What do you think?
Rate this book
Orpheus Emerged
There will never be a moment like this one," says poet and fellow Beat writer Robert Creeley, in his introduction to this literary the first full-length work to be published since Kerouac's death in 1969. Discovered by his estate, Orpheus Emerged chronicles the passions, conflicts and dreams of a group of bohemians searching for truth while studying at a university.Kerouac wrote the story shortly after meeting Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Lucien Carr, and others in and around Columbia University who would form the core of the Beats. Orpheus Emerged is a unique portrait of an artist as a young man and shows a writer in the process of finding the voice that would eventually express the spirit of a generation. The book comes with a CD-Rom (Win/Mac compatible) of the critically acclaimed and bestselling ebook version, which includes rare photographs of Kerouac, an audio reading, documentary video, and hundreds of interactive links, all offering a window into the world of Kerouac.
176 pages, Hardcover
First published March 5, 2002
5 people are currently reading
497 people want to read
About the author
Jack Kerouac
359 books11.5k followersJean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac, known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation.
Of French-Canadian ancestry, Kerouac was raised in a French-speaking home in Lowell, Massachusetts. He "learned English at age six and spoke with a marked accent into his late teens." During World War II, he served in the United States Merchant Marine; he completed his first novel at the time, which was published more than 40 years after his death. His first published book was The Town and the City (1950), and he achieved widespread fame and notoriety with his second, On the Road, in 1957. It made him a beat icon, and he went on to publish 12 more novels and numerous poetry volumes.
Kerouac is recognized for his style of stream of consciousness spontaneous prose. Thematically, his work covers topics such as his Catholic spirituality, jazz, travel, promiscuity, life in New York City, Buddhism, drugs, and poverty. He became an underground celebrity and, with other Beats, a progenitor of the hippie movement, although he remained antagonistic toward some of its politically radical elements. He has a lasting legacy, greatly influencing many of the cultural icons of the 1960s, including Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jerry Garcia and The Doors.
In 1969, at the age of 47, Kerouac died from an abdominal hemorrhage caused by a lifetime of heavy drinking. Since then, his literary prestige has grown, and several previously unseen works have been published.
Of French-Canadian ancestry, Kerouac was raised in a French-speaking home in Lowell, Massachusetts. He "learned English at age six and spoke with a marked accent into his late teens." During World War II, he served in the United States Merchant Marine; he completed his first novel at the time, which was published more than 40 years after his death. His first published book was The Town and the City (1950), and he achieved widespread fame and notoriety with his second, On the Road, in 1957. It made him a beat icon, and he went on to publish 12 more novels and numerous poetry volumes.
Kerouac is recognized for his style of stream of consciousness spontaneous prose. Thematically, his work covers topics such as his Catholic spirituality, jazz, travel, promiscuity, life in New York City, Buddhism, drugs, and poverty. He became an underground celebrity and, with other Beats, a progenitor of the hippie movement, although he remained antagonistic toward some of its politically radical elements. He has a lasting legacy, greatly influencing many of the cultural icons of the 1960s, including Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Jerry Garcia and The Doors.
In 1969, at the age of 47, Kerouac died from an abdominal hemorrhage caused by a lifetime of heavy drinking. Since then, his literary prestige has grown, and several previously unseen works have been published.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews
October 29, 2010
...or On the Road: The College Years.
I had trouble with this one. It's full of melodramatic, super pretentious college kids bumming around, having those Big Conversations on the fire escape at 3 AM that is college life. Kerouac can write bad Kerouac, and here it is, though give him a break, he was only 22, and I KNOW at 22 I would be/was writing the same sort of thing, hell I still do or would like to, right down to the embarrassing self-mythologizing notes in the back of the book.
I guess in the end I found this book to be pretty charming. I hate to use the cliche, but I think I would've loved this book in high school or college, but now all the exuberance of those fresh-faced, pretentious, self-indulgent years have soured on me, because they lead to nothing and are created in a bubble, and are part of a fabricated world that only exists for some fleeting 4 or 5 years where all your friends are nearby, going through the same thing and full of all the same open-eyed enthusiasm for life, and have time and enthusiasm, and have not matured enough to feel the Fear or become shy and weary about certain subjects, or groan and roll their eyes at you and tell you to grow up and get a job when you talk of things like The Artist, God, and Poetry.
There are some grating moments: one important character's poetry is terrible, and though in some regards it is held up to be terrible and self-indulgent, it is not ever truly considered to be as really really terrible and self-indulgent as it truthfully, painfully is. These passages made me blush with their flaunting lack of self-consciousness, a modern disease to be sure and one I despise, but would have worked here in small doses. Also, the dialog for the most part is terrible; it goes from excruciatingly melodramatic to a tone-deafness right out of a dubbed lowbudget Anime ("What? You mean, what would he think of that! You're being very stupid, by the way..."). The "doubling" of two characters is very forced and heavy-handed, but in the end I sort of liked its spookiness.
Though much of this book is cringe-worthy, as with all of Kerouac's works, I get a vicarious pleasure from it: this is the sort of thing I would write, have written, and the sort of stock characters and slumming Dostoevsky situations I am always comforted by in literature. It ain't great, and I can only recommend it to budding, annoying 18 year-old intellectuals (who are these days probably too cynical for Kerouac anyway) and people who like to live a vicariously hip life, but what the hey, I enjoyed it as much as I sometimes enjoy looking in the mirror.
I had trouble with this one. It's full of melodramatic, super pretentious college kids bumming around, having those Big Conversations on the fire escape at 3 AM that is college life. Kerouac can write bad Kerouac, and here it is, though give him a break, he was only 22, and I KNOW at 22 I would be/was writing the same sort of thing, hell I still do or would like to, right down to the embarrassing self-mythologizing notes in the back of the book.
I guess in the end I found this book to be pretty charming. I hate to use the cliche, but I think I would've loved this book in high school or college, but now all the exuberance of those fresh-faced, pretentious, self-indulgent years have soured on me, because they lead to nothing and are created in a bubble, and are part of a fabricated world that only exists for some fleeting 4 or 5 years where all your friends are nearby, going through the same thing and full of all the same open-eyed enthusiasm for life, and have time and enthusiasm, and have not matured enough to feel the Fear or become shy and weary about certain subjects, or groan and roll their eyes at you and tell you to grow up and get a job when you talk of things like The Artist, God, and Poetry.
There are some grating moments: one important character's poetry is terrible, and though in some regards it is held up to be terrible and self-indulgent, it is not ever truly considered to be as really really terrible and self-indulgent as it truthfully, painfully is. These passages made me blush with their flaunting lack of self-consciousness, a modern disease to be sure and one I despise, but would have worked here in small doses. Also, the dialog for the most part is terrible; it goes from excruciatingly melodramatic to a tone-deafness right out of a dubbed lowbudget Anime ("What? You mean, what would he think of that! You're being very stupid, by the way..."). The "doubling" of two characters is very forced and heavy-handed, but in the end I sort of liked its spookiness.
Though much of this book is cringe-worthy, as with all of Kerouac's works, I get a vicarious pleasure from it: this is the sort of thing I would write, have written, and the sort of stock characters and slumming Dostoevsky situations I am always comforted by in literature. It ain't great, and I can only recommend it to budding, annoying 18 year-old intellectuals (who are these days probably too cynical for Kerouac anyway) and people who like to live a vicariously hip life, but what the hey, I enjoyed it as much as I sometimes enjoy looking in the mirror.
March 14, 2022
2,5/5 Ένα μυστηριώδες διήγημα , το πρώτο ολοκληρωμένο , που έγραψε ο Κερουακ σε νεαρή ηλικία . Το συγκεκριμένο απλά ήταν μια ψηλάφηση για εμένα του τι εστι Κερουακ και απλά με έκανε να θελω να διαβάσω κάτι πιο ολοκληρωμένο δικό του . Νομίζω ότι μόνο όταν το Ολοκλήρωσα συντονίστηκα κάπως με το νόημα . Ομως σίγουρα έχει μέσα πολλες σκέψεις , πολλες αναφορές , και ωραίους προβληματισμούς όποτε 3 αστέρια και πάμε για τα επόμενα του …
December 10, 2017
Τέταρτο βιβλίο του Τζακ Κέρουακ που διαβάζω, μετά το μετριούτσικο "Σατόρι στο Παρίσι", το καλούτσικο "Και έβρασαν οι ιπποπόταμοι στις γούρνες τους" (που έγραψε με τον Γουίλιαμ Μπάροουζ) και το αρκετά καλό "Πικ", θα έλεγα ότι μάλλον είναι και το πιο αδύναμο, χωρίς αυτό να σημαίνει απαραίτητα ότι σαν βιβλίο είναι κακό. Είναι μια νουβέλα που ο Κέρουακ έγραψε το 1945, όταν ήταν εικοσιτριών ετών, και εκδόθηκε πολλές δεκαετίες αργότερα, οπότε και ανακαλύφθηκε. Δείχνει αρκετές αδυναμίες στην πλοκή, τους χαρακτήρες και την γραφή, μιας και ο Κέρουακ ήταν ακόμα άγουρος σαν συγγραφέας. Όμως, παράλληλα, δείχνει και ορισμένα από τα στοιχεία που θα χαρακτηρίσουν στην συνέχεια το έργο του. Η αλήθεια είναι ότι δεν δέθηκα ούτε με την ιστορία, ούτε και με τους χαρακτήρες, αν και διάβασα το βιβλίο αρκετά γρήγορα και εύκολα. Δεν ένιωσα τίποτα το ιδιαίτερο κατά την ανάγνωση, εκτός, ίσως, από ελάχιστα σημεία. Θα μου πει κάποιος: Μα γιατί δεν έχεις διαβάσει ακόμα κάποιο από τα γνωστά του βιβλία; Ας πούμε ότι θέλω να αφήσω το καλό πράγμα για το τέλος. Είμαι σίγουρος ότι θα υπάρξουν βιβλία του που θα με αγγίξουν πραγματικά.
May 20, 2009
This is a book that should give hope to all young writers,that no matter how poorly you write now,there is still a chance you will improve and even become famous.In a word this one is terrible. I believe Kerouac wrote it when he was 18 or twenty. Having taught a lot of students in that age group, I can tell you his writing would not have stood out as among the best.
It isn't only that the book is filled with the pseudo sophistication and self-importance that many of us fall prey to when young and fired up.A lot of that can be written off as coming with the territory.It's simply that it is so poorly written.Here's a few examples from 2 pages I opened to randomly:
'Paul inwardly winced."
"Paul hissed.'
"...he added gloomily."
"Are you?"Anthony breathed.
"My brother ,"bawled Anthony.
That kind of writing fills every page.I was surprised not to find some "Swifties." You know, sentences like,"Tom pulled the nail out of his foot painfully."
In fairness, I'm heading to the library to take out On The Road or Dharma Bums, to remind myself of why Kerouac spearheaded the entire "Beat Movement" and became so famous.
It isn't only that the book is filled with the pseudo sophistication and self-importance that many of us fall prey to when young and fired up.A lot of that can be written off as coming with the territory.It's simply that it is so poorly written.Here's a few examples from 2 pages I opened to randomly:
'Paul inwardly winced."
"Paul hissed.'
"...he added gloomily."
"Are you?"Anthony breathed.
"My brother ,"bawled Anthony.
That kind of writing fills every page.I was surprised not to find some "Swifties." You know, sentences like,"Tom pulled the nail out of his foot painfully."
In fairness, I'm heading to the library to take out On The Road or Dharma Bums, to remind myself of why Kerouac spearheaded the entire "Beat Movement" and became so famous.
August 6, 2016
Those books! If only I had time to read them, and more. This morning, after I lost my job, I went to the University Library itself and do you know, there were hundreds of thousands books there I honestly felt I should read! And the ideas that rush through my mind. The impatience I feel! The time running off like sand.
May 20, 2012
"Io non voglio essere coraggioso, non fa parte del mio modo di sentire. Voglio solo essere felice."
Dopo aver letto la storia dell'omicidio che ha dato vita alla Beat Generation (il romanzo a quattro mani E gli ippopotami si sono lessati nelle loro vasche), non ho potuto fare a meno di procedere a ritroso e riscoprire questo Orfeo emerso, un altro, ennesimo romanzo sommerso, riscoperto solo negli ultimi anni. E che pare non sia nemmeno questo il vero primo romanzo di Kerouac.
Preludio al romanzo scritto con Burroughs, Orfeo emerso vede la nascita del gruppetto di Kerouac e amici, su uno sfondo universitario. Kerouac ha ventitré anni, si imbuca alle lezioni universitarie dei suoi amici, si ubriaca, discorre di filosofia, cita Nietzche e legge Dostoevskij. Nella ristretta dimensione del romanzo, nella semplicità assoluta di trama si coglie ben poco che non sia solo la fotografia di una giovinezza come tante.
Eppure l'occhio attento può insinuarsi negli spazi tra le parole, scorgere il Kerouac che verrà. Pur stilisticamente lontano dal suo celebre On the road, parte del suo pensiero comincia già a formarsi. c'è, soprattutto, l'operazione di rovesciamento culturale che viene compiuta, molto più apertamente, nel tardo I vagabondi del Dharma: l'appropriazione, da parte di un gruppetto di giovani scanazzati e trasandati, di una letteratura alta, sempre in aperta polemica con i supposti detentori di quella cultura alta, a cominciare dai docenti universitari - e forse, negli anni Quaranta, non poteva esserci rivoluzione più ambiziosa.
Dopo aver letto la storia dell'omicidio che ha dato vita alla Beat Generation (il romanzo a quattro mani E gli ippopotami si sono lessati nelle loro vasche), non ho potuto fare a meno di procedere a ritroso e riscoprire questo Orfeo emerso, un altro, ennesimo romanzo sommerso, riscoperto solo negli ultimi anni. E che pare non sia nemmeno questo il vero primo romanzo di Kerouac.
Preludio al romanzo scritto con Burroughs, Orfeo emerso vede la nascita del gruppetto di Kerouac e amici, su uno sfondo universitario. Kerouac ha ventitré anni, si imbuca alle lezioni universitarie dei suoi amici, si ubriaca, discorre di filosofia, cita Nietzche e legge Dostoevskij. Nella ristretta dimensione del romanzo, nella semplicità assoluta di trama si coglie ben poco che non sia solo la fotografia di una giovinezza come tante.
Eppure l'occhio attento può insinuarsi negli spazi tra le parole, scorgere il Kerouac che verrà. Pur stilisticamente lontano dal suo celebre On the road, parte del suo pensiero comincia già a formarsi. c'è, soprattutto, l'operazione di rovesciamento culturale che viene compiuta, molto più apertamente, nel tardo I vagabondi del Dharma: l'appropriazione, da parte di un gruppetto di giovani scanazzati e trasandati, di una letteratura alta, sempre in aperta polemica con i supposti detentori di quella cultura alta, a cominciare dai docenti universitari - e forse, negli anni Quaranta, non poteva esserci rivoluzione più ambiziosa.
June 21, 2022
ORPHEUS EMERGED-JACK KEROUAC
✒"I could be Orpheus,the artist-man! Do you understand what I'm trying to say? When I could be the whole artist and man. Unchained. You see-for Prometheus is chained to a rock."
🎶Kratki roman o grupi dvadesetogodišnjaka i njihovim dogodovštinama.
🎶Prijateljstva,ljubav,studentski dani i/ili pokušaji snalaženja u životu.
🎶Na neki način ovo je Keruakov "portret umetnika u mladosti", razmišljanja o suštini umetnosti i pokušaj da se pesnik izdigne iznad banalnosti svakodnevnog života.
🎶Za ljubitelje Keruaka,vredno delo,jer su ovde nagoveštaji mnogih tema koje će kasnije doći do izražaja.
#7sensesofabook #knjige #bookstagram #literature #readingaddict
✒"I could be Orpheus,the artist-man! Do you understand what I'm trying to say? When I could be the whole artist and man. Unchained. You see-for Prometheus is chained to a rock."
🎶Kratki roman o grupi dvadesetogodišnjaka i njihovim dogodovštinama.
🎶Prijateljstva,ljubav,studentski dani i/ili pokušaji snalaženja u životu.
🎶Na neki način ovo je Keruakov "portret umetnika u mladosti", razmišljanja o suštini umetnosti i pokušaj da se pesnik izdigne iznad banalnosti svakodnevnog života.
🎶Za ljubitelje Keruaka,vredno delo,jer su ovde nagoveštaji mnogih tema koje će kasnije doći do izražaja.
#7sensesofabook #knjige #bookstagram #literature #readingaddict
February 15, 2012
First let it be known that I'm an absolutely HUGE fan of Jack Kerouac and I intend to read every word that that great man ever wrote.
So okay, I might be a tad biaised in this review.
But I'll try to be as honest and dispassionate as possible.
The three stars are for ENTERTAINMENT and HISTORICAL value and NOT for quality of LITERATURE.
First, I gotta say that this is by no means a great work of literature and I think even Jack would agree with me here, which accounts for perhaps why even he didn't try to have it published in his lifetime. Yet he kept it among his archive materials for future Kerouackian scholars to pore and argue over.
However, despite being a rather slipshod piece of literature, which it is, a few things have to be kept in mind. As other reviewers have pointed out, he wrote this in his early 20s (22 or 23 I forget) and I know that this, although vastly inferior to what Kerouac was later capable of, is far better than anything I coudl have written at that age.
Secondly, if you are a beat scholar like myself, then the release of this early work is obviously important in that it shows just how much Kerouac grew as a writer and it gives us some intriguing insight into his circle of friends (it is interesting to see early 'versions' of Ginsberg, Lucien Carr and Burroughs etc.), before they became known as the 'Beat Generation' (Note: I'm deliberately avoiding the use of the term 'beatnik' here as that was an explicitly derogatory term used by the Madison Avenue crew along with all those who launched or were part of the anti-Kerouac campaign and a term deviously but cleverly derived from the Russian 'sputnik' to make the obvious and subtle connection with Cold War distrust in this group of young people who intelligently and understandably attempted to give voice to their grievances with the oppresiveness of American conformism at the time)
Finally, although there were quite a few parts of the novel which made me cringe (some characters like Michael were more cringeworthy than others), I still found it ENTERTAINING (both in good and bad ways) and it DID remind me of how pretentious and exuberant we were back in those days way back when we were at uni/college and didn't know any better. So, you might find yourself waxing nostalgic at times throughout the book as I did, even though I did not like most of the characters in the novel itself.
In fact, this story reminded me of all those philosophical discussions I used to have in French cafes with friends around this time in my life. Just because I was doing philosophy at high school (that's right it's an actual required subject at French high school - ain't that cool?), made me feel like some deep thinker and savant. I now know how very little I knew back then but Kerouac, whether intentionally or not, does capture that blissful but brief cocoon of youth in which we feel we KNOW so much about life to be qualifed to comment on it to everyone within earshot (not quite true as we grow up and find out) and also in which we FEEL so much (to the point where we don't know what exactly it is that we feel, why we feel that way or what we can do with all those emotions inside of us).
I have heard people complain about how you need to have a knowledge of Greek mythology in order to understand this book better. That is a little exaggerated. To the best of my memory, there are only two mythological figures mentioned in the book - Orpheus (obviously), a kind of 'god' of bewitching music and poetry and Prometheus, whose punishment should be famous to all, being chained to a rock and having his liver pecked at by an eagle. While the latter one obviously refers to the suffering artist referred to in the book, I'm a little at a loss as to who Orpheus refers to or when he is going to 'emerge'.
I recommend this book for young people in their first or second year at university or for diehard Kerouac scholars (like myself) who have to read everything he ever wrote, for good or for worse. But for the casual Kerouac fan who has just discovered or stumbled on to his work, skip this and pick up a copy of the wonderful On the Road (original full scroll now released at last!) or The Subterraneans or Big Sur or even his poetic masterpiece, Mexico City Blues.
So okay, I might be a tad biaised in this review.
But I'll try to be as honest and dispassionate as possible.
The three stars are for ENTERTAINMENT and HISTORICAL value and NOT for quality of LITERATURE.
First, I gotta say that this is by no means a great work of literature and I think even Jack would agree with me here, which accounts for perhaps why even he didn't try to have it published in his lifetime. Yet he kept it among his archive materials for future Kerouackian scholars to pore and argue over.
However, despite being a rather slipshod piece of literature, which it is, a few things have to be kept in mind. As other reviewers have pointed out, he wrote this in his early 20s (22 or 23 I forget) and I know that this, although vastly inferior to what Kerouac was later capable of, is far better than anything I coudl have written at that age.
Secondly, if you are a beat scholar like myself, then the release of this early work is obviously important in that it shows just how much Kerouac grew as a writer and it gives us some intriguing insight into his circle of friends (it is interesting to see early 'versions' of Ginsberg, Lucien Carr and Burroughs etc.), before they became known as the 'Beat Generation' (Note: I'm deliberately avoiding the use of the term 'beatnik' here as that was an explicitly derogatory term used by the Madison Avenue crew along with all those who launched or were part of the anti-Kerouac campaign and a term deviously but cleverly derived from the Russian 'sputnik' to make the obvious and subtle connection with Cold War distrust in this group of young people who intelligently and understandably attempted to give voice to their grievances with the oppresiveness of American conformism at the time)
Finally, although there were quite a few parts of the novel which made me cringe (some characters like Michael were more cringeworthy than others), I still found it ENTERTAINING (both in good and bad ways) and it DID remind me of how pretentious and exuberant we were back in those days way back when we were at uni/college and didn't know any better. So, you might find yourself waxing nostalgic at times throughout the book as I did, even though I did not like most of the characters in the novel itself.
In fact, this story reminded me of all those philosophical discussions I used to have in French cafes with friends around this time in my life. Just because I was doing philosophy at high school (that's right it's an actual required subject at French high school - ain't that cool?), made me feel like some deep thinker and savant. I now know how very little I knew back then but Kerouac, whether intentionally or not, does capture that blissful but brief cocoon of youth in which we feel we KNOW so much about life to be qualifed to comment on it to everyone within earshot (not quite true as we grow up and find out) and also in which we FEEL so much (to the point where we don't know what exactly it is that we feel, why we feel that way or what we can do with all those emotions inside of us).
I have heard people complain about how you need to have a knowledge of Greek mythology in order to understand this book better. That is a little exaggerated. To the best of my memory, there are only two mythological figures mentioned in the book - Orpheus (obviously), a kind of 'god' of bewitching music and poetry and Prometheus, whose punishment should be famous to all, being chained to a rock and having his liver pecked at by an eagle. While the latter one obviously refers to the suffering artist referred to in the book, I'm a little at a loss as to who Orpheus refers to or when he is going to 'emerge'.
I recommend this book for young people in their first or second year at university or for diehard Kerouac scholars (like myself) who have to read everything he ever wrote, for good or for worse. But for the casual Kerouac fan who has just discovered or stumbled on to his work, skip this and pick up a copy of the wonderful On the Road (original full scroll now released at last!) or The Subterraneans or Big Sur or even his poetic masterpiece, Mexico City Blues.
March 18, 2017
this was... not a good book
Written in Kerouac's earlier years it's understandable why the writing is so obviously pretentious. The whole story revolves around these melodramatic college kids going on about god and the artist. It seemed so much as if the author was just trying to shove in all the allusions he could to make the work sound fancy, and draw on a bunch of pretentious sounding quotes from other books to make his own seem on that level. But there was no meaning. It was hard to keep track of the characters because quite a few of them were very similar and the plot was kinda choppy.
However there was a charm to the vibe of college, poetry, whiskey, morphine, and talking about concepts so much grander and more complex that they can comprehend. Also it is very interesting to see Kerouac's writing develop to his more well known works. The beat generation is one of my favourite literary eras and I love so many of the authors, and I love being able to see the development of their abilities. Despite the poor writing of this book, it was funny to see how I was able to see myself in these attempts to seem more educated and pretentious than Kerouac could actually write at that point.
Overall:
If you want to see the development of Kerouac's writing or have a soft spot for him and the rest of the beats, this is an interesting read. Otherwise, don't really bother.
Written in Kerouac's earlier years it's understandable why the writing is so obviously pretentious. The whole story revolves around these melodramatic college kids going on about god and the artist. It seemed so much as if the author was just trying to shove in all the allusions he could to make the work sound fancy, and draw on a bunch of pretentious sounding quotes from other books to make his own seem on that level. But there was no meaning. It was hard to keep track of the characters because quite a few of them were very similar and the plot was kinda choppy.
However there was a charm to the vibe of college, poetry, whiskey, morphine, and talking about concepts so much grander and more complex that they can comprehend. Also it is very interesting to see Kerouac's writing develop to his more well known works. The beat generation is one of my favourite literary eras and I love so many of the authors, and I love being able to see the development of their abilities. Despite the poor writing of this book, it was funny to see how I was able to see myself in these attempts to seem more educated and pretentious than Kerouac could actually write at that point.
Overall:
If you want to see the development of Kerouac's writing or have a soft spot for him and the rest of the beats, this is an interesting read. Otherwise, don't really bother.
April 9, 2014
Hitting the road back in the 1960's, without reading Kerouac, was equivalent to rambling off without a bed-roll. All those far distant memories have been shaken somewhat by this short novella. Completed in 1945 by the 23 year old 'beat' writer, 'Orpheus Emerged' was unpublished until 2000. I would have wished that Orpheus had not emerged at all.
I'm no regular reader of fiction these days, but I thought this was dreadful. The writing was juvenile and the characters pretentious.
Forgive me Jack...too many decades have passed by.
I'm no regular reader of fiction these days, but I thought this was dreadful. The writing was juvenile and the characters pretentious.
Forgive me Jack...too many decades have passed by.
December 30, 2009
I liked the book, it is one of those stories where it is more about the conversation and what people say than what actually goes on in the story line and what people do.
May 22, 2022
Ένα από τα πρώτα βιβλία του Τζακ Κέρουακ, που εκδώθηκε σχετικα´πρόσφατα, πάνω από εξήντα χρόνια από την γραφή του. Δεν συγκρίνεται λογοτεχνικά με τους Αλήτες του Ντάρμα ούτε με τον Δρόμο, αλλά από την ηλικία των είκοσι και τη δεκαετία του 1940, διακρίνεται το μποέμικο στυλ ζωής που κυριάρχησε την επόμενη δεκαετία στις ΗΠΑ, κάτι που χάθηκε για πάντα αμέσως μετά.
February 27, 2023
Kul att läsa! Väldigt pretto, det märks att han va 21 när boken skrevs. Första Kerouac jag läst och lär bli fler, bra emo vibe samtidigt som han tror på konsten :’)
April 9, 2025
Sensually self-indulgent but none the less charming. I think all 20-something pseudo-intellectuals if tasked with writing a novel about their college escapades would happen upon a final product in the vein of this.
Kerouac has this stunning ability to craft an absolutely gorgeous turn of phrase, without actually saying anything - which may sound like slander but I assure you style over substance is just as important as profound meaning.
One thing to point out, I found this to have an existential tone similar to that of ‘Big Sur’ - I like the cyclical nature of his artistic voice. Doomed in his 20s, to find hope in his 30s with ‘Dharma Bums’, to once again realise that when standing in advance of our dreams, everything means nothing. There is no peace to be found in an aesthetic life.
Kerouac has this stunning ability to craft an absolutely gorgeous turn of phrase, without actually saying anything - which may sound like slander but I assure you style over substance is just as important as profound meaning.
One thing to point out, I found this to have an existential tone similar to that of ‘Big Sur’ - I like the cyclical nature of his artistic voice. Doomed in his 20s, to find hope in his 30s with ‘Dharma Bums’, to once again realise that when standing in advance of our dreams, everything means nothing. There is no peace to be found in an aesthetic life.
December 29, 2021
This is my first Kerouac and although I know much about him and his period I never seem to have gotten very far with his reads. Now this book had some real weirdos from this period in time when the Beats were having their period around Columbia University. I found the characters in this story beyond strange yet the story although strange believable for when it takes place in a time of figuring things out irrationally.
September 9, 2020
A good read Kerouac at the beginning. My personal favorite by him is Dharma Bums .
August 20, 2023
LA LEGGENDA DI DULUOZ #6
Nella mia ipotetica ricostruzione del ciclo della leggenda di Duluoz ho voluto includere anche questo libro, uno dei primissimi scritto da Kerouac (già nel 1945 durante gli anni dell'università) ma pubblicato postumo solo negli anni Duemila. Certo il Kerouac in questione è ancora acerbo, ma è già tutto in potenza. La storia, raccontata in uno stile relativamente più standard delle sue opere più famose, è incentrato principalmente nelle vicende quotidiane di un gruppo di bohemien degli anni 40, gli stessi di cui si può leggere nella parte finale de La città e la metropoli, tutti pseudonimi attraverso cui si celano i suoi amici scrittori dell'epoca, ho avuto inoltre la sensazione che Kerouac stesso si nasconda sotto (almeno) un doppio personaggio, come a rappresentare due dimensioni diverse della sua personalità nello stesso stratagemma che utilizzò in LCeLM..
L'ho trovato estremamente piacevole per il forte realismo dei dialoghi e per le situazioni di tutti i giorni ricostruite in maniera quasi documentarista o come tramite l'occhio di un fotografo. Ricordo che mi infuse molta allegria e ottimismo avendolo letto all'inizio della mia esperienza universitaria.
Nella mia ipotetica ricostruzione del ciclo della leggenda di Duluoz ho voluto includere anche questo libro, uno dei primissimi scritto da Kerouac (già nel 1945 durante gli anni dell'università) ma pubblicato postumo solo negli anni Duemila. Certo il Kerouac in questione è ancora acerbo, ma è già tutto in potenza. La storia, raccontata in uno stile relativamente più standard delle sue opere più famose, è incentrato principalmente nelle vicende quotidiane di un gruppo di bohemien degli anni 40, gli stessi di cui si può leggere nella parte finale de La città e la metropoli, tutti pseudonimi attraverso cui si celano i suoi amici scrittori dell'epoca, ho avuto inoltre la sensazione che Kerouac stesso si nasconda sotto (almeno) un doppio personaggio, come a rappresentare due dimensioni diverse della sua personalità nello stesso stratagemma che utilizzò in LCeLM..
L'ho trovato estremamente piacevole per il forte realismo dei dialoghi e per le situazioni di tutti i giorni ricostruite in maniera quasi documentarista o come tramite l'occhio di un fotografo. Ricordo che mi infuse molta allegria e ottimismo avendolo letto all'inizio della mia esperienza universitaria.
Read
September 28, 2022Obviously a young writer cutting his teeth. The scenes are undeveloped and chaotic, the characters other than Michael and Paul are plastic and unremarkable whereas Paul and Michael are odd and highly annoying.
This early effort is proof that its not sheer talent, the God-given thing. Kerouac WORKED, HARD, for years to become great. And he did. He was not born with immense talent. He was born with certain innate tools, which he carefully leveraged and sharpened over the years to create the talent we later experienced. There is zero talent on display in this. Worse than bad.
And while a very poor read, he does actually get somewhere at the end. I can feel what he was going for, the mystery, the brooding, the intelligence, the supposed split b/t intelligence and religion, art and piety and successful scripted life.
Tl;DR: Bad read, annoying even. But fascinating to see what genius seeds look like, and good motivation to. keep. on. writing.
This early effort is proof that its not sheer talent, the God-given thing. Kerouac WORKED, HARD, for years to become great. And he did. He was not born with immense talent. He was born with certain innate tools, which he carefully leveraged and sharpened over the years to create the talent we later experienced. There is zero talent on display in this. Worse than bad.
And while a very poor read, he does actually get somewhere at the end. I can feel what he was going for, the mystery, the brooding, the intelligence, the supposed split b/t intelligence and religion, art and piety and successful scripted life.
Tl;DR: Bad read, annoying even. But fascinating to see what genius seeds look like, and good motivation to. keep. on. writing.
December 18, 2019
Opera minore di Kerouac, affronta temi che verranno approfonditi ulteriormente in tutta la produzione successiva.
Il grande talento dello scrittore si evince anche da questo suo secondo libro scritto a ventitré anni, che narra le vicende di giovani artisti che frequentano l'università.
I dialoghi sono spettacolari, meno realistici rispetto agli altri libri che ha scritto ma perfetti per ogni situazione.
Il grande talento dello scrittore si evince anche da questo suo secondo libro scritto a ventitré anni, che narra le vicende di giovani artisti che frequentano l'università.
I dialoghi sono spettacolari, meno realistici rispetto agli altri libri che ha scritto ma perfetti per ogni situazione.
December 22, 2019
Always wonderful to read a Jack Kerouac book, especially a hither to unknown complete novel.
Like The Town and The City, Orpheus Emerged is not written in his now famous stream of consciousness, spontaneous prose. Despite this, all of the other Kerouac trademarks are here.
For whatever problems there are with this book, it is well worth it to view the core group of "beat" writers when they were young and at university before they became literary giants and known the world over.
Like The Town and The City, Orpheus Emerged is not written in his now famous stream of consciousness, spontaneous prose. Despite this, all of the other Kerouac trademarks are here.
For whatever problems there are with this book, it is well worth it to view the core group of "beat" writers when they were young and at university before they became literary giants and known the world over.
July 25, 2020
The writing quality is poor by any standards, but the story is charming in its own way. I could see myself enjoying this more had I read it 30 years ago when I was a young, pretentious kid. It deserves 4 stars for historical value alone. It was a joy to get inside the writing mind of a young Kerouac.
November 11, 2017
Another good, if forgettable, piece of Kerouac's early writing. Not quite as thought out as some of his other early work, but enjoyable nonetheless.
August 27, 2018
An overall lukewarm read but damn was the aesthetic on point
September 30, 2018
Maybe I just read it at the right time in my life.
August 28, 2019
Although the good stuff comes later on the road and in visions, this is a fascinating look into his early assessments of the world around him.
October 11, 2022
Sorry, Jack. You should probably hit the road instead. Aimless wandering around campus does not suit you.
July 30, 2024
He’s learning and you can tell, but God to watch someone dig around a Dimond in dirt is tantalizing.
December 28, 2016
Incredibilmente bello
December 30, 2021
I feel like I missed something vital at the close of this short story, but I have no real inclination to re-read and figure out what it was (if you're happening upon this review and know what I'm talking about: please share).
Many people in the review section slam on the writing style...it is what it is, an early work that can never be the most perfect of things. It's probably a bit unfortunate his best work was published before this, but at the very least it provides a snapshot in time right? Was there a reason this wasn't published? Maybe it was never supposed to see the light of day. Regardless, I'm always a sucker for Kerouac portrayals of my boy Ginsberg and enjoy reading pseudobiographical narratives of the beat lot.
Many people in the review section slam on the writing style...it is what it is, an early work that can never be the most perfect of things. It's probably a bit unfortunate his best work was published before this, but at the very least it provides a snapshot in time right? Was there a reason this wasn't published? Maybe it was never supposed to see the light of day. Regardless, I'm always a sucker for Kerouac portrayals of my boy Ginsberg and enjoy reading pseudobiographical narratives of the beat lot.
April 28, 2021
This was an unkowned author for me. I looked him up on the Internet and found out some really interesting things about his life, and about his role in the so called "Beats" or "Beat Generation". I also read a little about this book, before reading it, and already knew that it was one of his early books, that didn´t even get published before his and his wife´s death. Many fans see this book as a poor work, as compared to his primary and most important work.
However, for me, this was my first Kerouac´s book, and after reading it, I became really interested in his work, and eager to read more of his books.
I found it to be a quite interesting book, but, inspite of haven´t read anything else of this author, I can understand Kerouac´s fans, when they talk about it´s poor literary qualities. For me, the story is fairly well built, but seems to fail short on its global goal. I think maybe Kerouac failed passing out his message, first because his message was a bit overwhelming and complex one, and second because at his young age, he hadn´t yet developed the necessary literary tools, to do it in a proper way. If it had stayed just as a novela talking about the life of young men and their friends at college, I think it would be best. Simpler and much more modest, but best.
That was the bit I liked most. The characters. Well built, and interesting. Every one of them trying to find his way through life and it´s meaning. The search for knowledge, or just the giving it up to vice, and to the day to day survivance.
I think that anyone who really likes to read, and is interested in the history of american literature should read this book. But if you are looking for a really good book to read, wtih a great story, I think you better look for another book, as you will not like this one.
More information at:
http://linkedbooks.blogspot.pt/2013/0...
However, for me, this was my first Kerouac´s book, and after reading it, I became really interested in his work, and eager to read more of his books.
I found it to be a quite interesting book, but, inspite of haven´t read anything else of this author, I can understand Kerouac´s fans, when they talk about it´s poor literary qualities. For me, the story is fairly well built, but seems to fail short on its global goal. I think maybe Kerouac failed passing out his message, first because his message was a bit overwhelming and complex one, and second because at his young age, he hadn´t yet developed the necessary literary tools, to do it in a proper way. If it had stayed just as a novela talking about the life of young men and their friends at college, I think it would be best. Simpler and much more modest, but best.
That was the bit I liked most. The characters. Well built, and interesting. Every one of them trying to find his way through life and it´s meaning. The search for knowledge, or just the giving it up to vice, and to the day to day survivance.
I think that anyone who really likes to read, and is interested in the history of american literature should read this book. But if you are looking for a really good book to read, wtih a great story, I think you better look for another book, as you will not like this one.
More information at:
http://linkedbooks.blogspot.pt/2013/0...
Displaying 1 - 30 of 63 reviews