What do you think?
Rate this book
Un Truc Très Beau Qui Contient Tout
Le précurseur de la Beat Generation, l’étincelle qui a mis le feu aux poudres, c’est lui : Neal Cassady. Jack Kerouac en fait le héros flamboyant de Sur la route. Sa ferveur et son énergie furent aussi au service de l’écriture. Dans ces lettres détonantes à ses femmes et aux amis poètes, il donne à entendre ses propres mots : parfois tendres et bouleversants, parfois insolents et délirants. Des textes d’une puissance dévastatrice.
Né en 1926 à Salt Lake City, Neal Cassady est considéré comme « l’âme de la Beat Generation ». À l’instar de ses pairs, Kerouac, Ginsberg et Burroughs, il se révèle aussi écrivain saisissant. Longtemps restées inédites en France, ses lettres sont empreintes d’une folie qui enthousiasme.
Né en 1926 à Salt Lake City, Neal Cassady est considéré comme « l’âme de la Beat Generation ». À l’instar de ses pairs, Kerouac, Ginsberg et Burroughs, il se révèle aussi écrivain saisissant. Longtemps restées inédites en France, ses lettres sont empreintes d’une folie qui enthousiasme.
416 pages, Paperback
First published January 25, 2005
38 people are currently reading
931 people want to read
About the author
Neal Cassady
13 books163 followersNeal Leon Cassady was a major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic movement of the 1960s, perhaps best known for being characterized as Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
October 11, 2013
Fascinating.
The majority of Neal's letters in this collection are from the 1950s. Most of the letters from the 1960s are very short and it is sad to see that Neal had mostly given up on his writing ambitions by this stage which is a real shame because some of his letters from the 1950s are up there among the best that I have seen among the beats. Even Carl Solomon (there is one letter from him in here) writes to Neal, somewhat negatively, hoping that Neal will continue to work on his writing because he sees his potential. The famous and infamous Joan Anderson letter is a case in point. Oh how good it would be to have the whole thing in its entirety. Instead, we are forced to be content with less than half of the original. As Kerouac points out, this letter features the best of Proust, Joyce and others and this is the letter that inspired Kerouac to adopt his spontaneous bop prosody style, which lead to his pounding out On the Road on his typewriter in about three weeks.
There are some good letters that he wrote in the 60s to Ken Kesey though - one sprawling, rambling letter to Kesey really showcases his incredible knowledge of the automobile and also the inexorable and exhilarating flow of his prose which left me spellbound at times.
The letters back and forth between him and Jack are the most interesting and the letters between Neal and Carolyn also show how tempestual their relationship really was.
I arrived at a few conclusions about some of the people after reading this book.
1) I think Carolyn was very patient with Neal and an incredibly strong woman.
2) I think Kerouac is an incredibly complex person, both selfish and generous, incredibly sympathetic but at times incredibly spiteful and mean. Fits the T of an artist, doesn't it?
3) Ginsberg was really the 'glue' that kept them all together as a group and if it weren't for Ginsberg, none of them, not even Kerouac, may have even gotten published. He was committed, devoted to getting everyone he believed in published and endlessly and incorrigibly forgiving, no matter how many times Jack or Neal or Peter Orlovsky let him down.
4) Burroughs - once again an incredibly complex and intelligent person whose style of writing was very different from the others and is somewhat the 'brains' behind the Beat movement and certainly the best read of the group. He was very mean to Peter because he was jealous that he was Allen's lover.
4) Huncke (who appears only once here) - an incredibly sly shyster but a fascinating one. He was not a writer but a 'raconteur' who introduced the beats to the underground scene of Times Square etc.
5) Corso - a loudmouth genius poet clown who matured beautifully. He could be quite obnoxious when he was younger based on the stories that you read and hear but he probably aged the best of all the beats. At the end of his life he seemed so angelic and interested in fighting the good fight.
6) Diane - someone who tragically fell in love with Neal, had one of his children and was basically abandoned by Neal.
7) Natalie Jackson - another mixed-up girl who got involved with Neal and who met a tragic fate.
8) Anne Murphy - basically a real slut who was probably Neal's major love at the end of his life
9) LuAnne - an incredibly free and uninhibited and strong woman who could move on to the next stage of her life regardless of whatever afflictions came her way.
10) Neal's dad (Cassady Sr.) - a hopeless drunk who seemed like a nice enough person. He could have been a decent respectable citizen of Denver if it weren't for his drinking.
There are more people mentioned in here, including the Merry Pranksters, but you should just pick up a copy of this and check it out for yourself. As Carolyn Cassady says in the Introduction, this book is bound to become a classic within the great beat canon. Highly recommended. Cassady had his flaws and was far from being an 'angel' but one thing you've got to say about him - he never gave up celebrating life and that's how he will be remembered. As well as being Dean Moriarty the legend and Sir Speed Limit, the driver of the bus Furthur. If you want to read even more of his letters, you can pick up a copy of As Ever, which features his correspondence with Ginsberg or Grace Beats Karma, which is a volume of his letters to Carolyn and others while he was in prison.
The majority of Neal's letters in this collection are from the 1950s. Most of the letters from the 1960s are very short and it is sad to see that Neal had mostly given up on his writing ambitions by this stage which is a real shame because some of his letters from the 1950s are up there among the best that I have seen among the beats. Even Carl Solomon (there is one letter from him in here) writes to Neal, somewhat negatively, hoping that Neal will continue to work on his writing because he sees his potential. The famous and infamous Joan Anderson letter is a case in point. Oh how good it would be to have the whole thing in its entirety. Instead, we are forced to be content with less than half of the original. As Kerouac points out, this letter features the best of Proust, Joyce and others and this is the letter that inspired Kerouac to adopt his spontaneous bop prosody style, which lead to his pounding out On the Road on his typewriter in about three weeks.
There are some good letters that he wrote in the 60s to Ken Kesey though - one sprawling, rambling letter to Kesey really showcases his incredible knowledge of the automobile and also the inexorable and exhilarating flow of his prose which left me spellbound at times.
The letters back and forth between him and Jack are the most interesting and the letters between Neal and Carolyn also show how tempestual their relationship really was.
I arrived at a few conclusions about some of the people after reading this book.
1) I think Carolyn was very patient with Neal and an incredibly strong woman.
2) I think Kerouac is an incredibly complex person, both selfish and generous, incredibly sympathetic but at times incredibly spiteful and mean. Fits the T of an artist, doesn't it?
3) Ginsberg was really the 'glue' that kept them all together as a group and if it weren't for Ginsberg, none of them, not even Kerouac, may have even gotten published. He was committed, devoted to getting everyone he believed in published and endlessly and incorrigibly forgiving, no matter how many times Jack or Neal or Peter Orlovsky let him down.
4) Burroughs - once again an incredibly complex and intelligent person whose style of writing was very different from the others and is somewhat the 'brains' behind the Beat movement and certainly the best read of the group. He was very mean to Peter because he was jealous that he was Allen's lover.
4) Huncke (who appears only once here) - an incredibly sly shyster but a fascinating one. He was not a writer but a 'raconteur' who introduced the beats to the underground scene of Times Square etc.
5) Corso - a loudmouth genius poet clown who matured beautifully. He could be quite obnoxious when he was younger based on the stories that you read and hear but he probably aged the best of all the beats. At the end of his life he seemed so angelic and interested in fighting the good fight.
6) Diane - someone who tragically fell in love with Neal, had one of his children and was basically abandoned by Neal.
7) Natalie Jackson - another mixed-up girl who got involved with Neal and who met a tragic fate.
8) Anne Murphy - basically a real slut who was probably Neal's major love at the end of his life
9) LuAnne - an incredibly free and uninhibited and strong woman who could move on to the next stage of her life regardless of whatever afflictions came her way.
10) Neal's dad (Cassady Sr.) - a hopeless drunk who seemed like a nice enough person. He could have been a decent respectable citizen of Denver if it weren't for his drinking.
There are more people mentioned in here, including the Merry Pranksters, but you should just pick up a copy of this and check it out for yourself. As Carolyn Cassady says in the Introduction, this book is bound to become a classic within the great beat canon. Highly recommended. Cassady had his flaws and was far from being an 'angel' but one thing you've got to say about him - he never gave up celebrating life and that's how he will be remembered. As well as being Dean Moriarty the legend and Sir Speed Limit, the driver of the bus Furthur. If you want to read even more of his letters, you can pick up a copy of As Ever, which features his correspondence with Ginsberg or Grace Beats Karma, which is a volume of his letters to Carolyn and others while he was in prison.
August 4, 2021
I don't often cry at the end of books anymore, but this book took me there. Cassady was wild, free, always breaking out, always searching, voraciously reading, self-taught, and in the end, writing with the best of them. What shook me most about this book was the realization that Cassady wrote a long letter that his beat friends were sure soared higher than anything anyone else had done before and was an entirely new type of writing. Part of the letter is in this book, but two pages have gone missing. It was suggested they were last in the hands of Jack Keroauc and that he used them for the basis of his celebrated book, "On the Road." Cassady, who loved and admired Keroauc his entire short life, never knew. This was the first time I'd heard this, and it was such a betrayal that I'm still taking it in. Cassady's writing never received any recognition in his lifetime; the letter was published after he died at age 41. He spent his time zigzagging across the country, falling in and out of love, gettng married, having kids, working dangerous railroad jobs, sleeping on couches, and escaping entanglements either physically or emotionally through drugs. Most of his letters here are to Allen Ginsburg, Jack Keroauc, and Carolyn Cassady, the wife to which he was closest. He did time in San Quentin for possessing small amounts of weed. He also got involved with Ken Kesey and his LSD experiments. Typically, his last letter pleads with a woman to come to him, wondering if she loves him at all. If you have any interest in the beats, this is such an important read, as Cassady was a central figure to the rest of them, and he is revealed here as well as his relationships to those he cherished. All their books were about each other, pretty much, and he figured prominently in Keroauc's under various pseudonyms. I see now why they loved Cassady so much. I, too, loved his yearning and hurt when he struggled.
March 3, 2010
Some personal and frank discussions between Cassady and his many friends/family as he passed from young, able-bodied railroad brakeman and poolhall hustler to wide-eyed, yet wise, beat poet and tragic hero. I think this book is for completists who also enjoyed similar "letters" books by Kerouac and Ginsberg. Cassady was a man of, and also, ahead of his time, and these letters give a picture-book account of how these characteristics formed his legend as well as how they affected those closest to him. It is staggering how much living this man packed into one short lifetime, especially in the context of the times.
May 8, 2021
Definitely the real thing. The best of Neal Cassady's storytellying collected in dozens of letters addressed to his companions of the Beat generation: his friends, wives and lovers. Here you'll find all the purest Beat aesthetic, which so much influenced Kerouac's writing, coined in Cassady's entertaining, fun, witty and emotional prose.
Dave Moore's work is remarkable. Apart from bringing useful biographical information and character-keys and general data which link to several Kerouac's novels, his notes help the reader get the context in which Neal or his addressees were writing from, which provides good descriptions of the postwar America.
Dave Moore's work is remarkable. Apart from bringing useful biographical information and character-keys and general data which link to several Kerouac's novels, his notes help the reader get the context in which Neal or his addressees were writing from, which provides good descriptions of the postwar America.
October 21, 2012
If you havent read the rest of the beat books then u wont have an understanding of this book. Not a book to randomly pick up to get to know Cassady and the reat of the beats. Its the glue between each book written with Cassady as the muse or a player in along with Kerouac.
August 4, 2015
Lost patience with Mr. Cassady early on. Brilliant writer and creative soul but I could not take another page of his self-absorbed, psychotic, selfishness. And is it just me, or did both he and Jack Kerouac just keep repeating themselves in their letters?
June 3, 2007
Kerouac's muse explored through the letters he sent. March 7th, 1947 is a perfect example of accidental brilliance.
Read
August 11, 2019Holy Cassady, indeed.
July 6, 2018
Töötab väga hästi ka biograafiana, sest lisaks kirjade vahele jäävate aegade lyhiylevaadetele on konteksti mõttes siia-sinna lisatud ka teiste kirju Nealile või teiste omavahelisi kirju, mis temast räägivad, kõik on kaootiline, yhele kirjutab ta yht, teisele teist ja kokku tuleb rahutult märatsev tervik, aeg-ajalt välgub Neali pastakas nii, et vägev kohe, väga kahju, et tal selleks eriti palju jõudu ega jaksu ei jäänud, kui yhelt poolt kiusasid aina elukohused ja depressioon, teiselt poolt elulõbud ja lõputu joint'itamine. Järjekordne tavaline elule allajäänud geenius.
April 28, 2020
Excelente recopilación de correspondencia, donde podemos conocer con más intimidad al gurú de la Generación Beat.
Conocerás la existencia de la "Carta de Joan Anderson", cuyo estilo prosistico inspiró a Kerouac a escribir En El Camino; sin embargo su calidad literaria es cambiante, no todas son tan nutritivas; pero hey, no todos tenemos siempre de que hablar.
Lo recomiendo, sobre todo si te interesa profundizar en la historia y contexto de la Generación Beat, sino te interesa tanto, podrías omitirlo.
It's an acquired taste
Conocerás la existencia de la "Carta de Joan Anderson", cuyo estilo prosistico inspiró a Kerouac a escribir En El Camino; sin embargo su calidad literaria es cambiante, no todas son tan nutritivas; pero hey, no todos tenemos siempre de que hablar.
Lo recomiendo, sobre todo si te interesa profundizar en la historia y contexto de la Generación Beat, sino te interesa tanto, podrías omitirlo.
It's an acquired taste
October 29, 2022
This book definitely follows Cassady's progress as a human being. I honestly could not stand him at the beginning of the book, but his "character" development throughout the letters was amazing. What a great example of personal growth. I keep coming back to re-read my favourite letters, especially to Jack Kerouac.
December 22, 2022
I found many of the letters between him and his litany of wives and girlfriends more uninteresting than not, but I enjoyed the letters between him and other beat figures, mostly Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg. It's also clear that the Joan Anderson Letter, not available in full here but available in its own publication, is the best piece of writing Neal Cassady ever produced
October 27, 2018
I always knew about the legend of Neil Cassady but never really felt I knew about the person. This book gave me Hey good feel for who he was and how brilliant of a person he was.
June 8, 2023
Une claque, un coup de fouet de la tornade Neal Cassady
July 31, 2025
les garcons restez entre vous laissez les meufs en dehors de cela
December 3, 2014
Le souffle de la vie en pleine poire. Des torrents de testostérone qui se déversent dans ses nombreuses lettres à destination de ses amis qui deviendront de grands écrivains. Certaines seront des monuments adaptés au cinéma, et sans elles, "Sur la route" de Kerouac n'aurait jamais vu le jour. Une correspondance indispensable à ranger à côté de celle de Van Gogh.
March 31, 2022
Boring letters.
Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews