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Pic

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Scritto quasi interamente nel 1948 ma completato solo vent'anni più tardi, Pic fu pubblicato postumo, nel 1971. È la storia tenera e piena di un dolce humour di Pictorial Review Jackson, detto Pic, un bimbo nero che vive col nonno in North Carolina. Rimasto solo, il ragazzino viene dapprima affidato a una zia, poi se ne fa carico Slim, il fratello maggiore. Il piccolo Pic, una sorta di Huckleberry Finn del Novecento, intraprende insieme a Slim un viaggio attraverso gli Stati Uniti rocambolesco e ricco di incontri e di avventure: i due arriveranno fino a New York per poi dirigersi verso la California. Il viaggio, tema per eccellenza del romanzo americano, della Beat Generation e di Kerouac in particolare, è declinato qui in tono picaresco, attraverso lo sguardo innocente e sincero del giovane Pic e il suo caratteristico linguaggio, pieno di freschezza ed entusiasmo, così come di vivaci invenzioni. Sullo sfondo, l'irresistibile colonna sonora della musica jazz.

Paperback

First published January 1, 1971

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About the author

Jack Kerouac

359 books11.5k followers
Jean-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.

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Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews
Profile Image for Emily B.
491 reviews535 followers
February 3, 2022
A great short read!

I usually find anything written in dialect difficult to read but this wasn’t the case when reading Pic. Overall, I found it pretty charming.
Profile Image for Corto Maltese.
99 reviews38 followers
August 21, 2018
Γλυκό οδοιπορικό επιβίωσης μέσα από τα μάτια του μικρού ήρωα Πικ, με νοσταλγικό τόνο, στην Αμερική της δεκαετίας του 50'. Με τις γνώριμες σταθερές του απόκληρου, του δρόμου, της Τζαζ και της λατρείας του αμερικάνικου τοπίου να διατρέχουν το κύκνειο άσμα του συγγραφέα.
Profile Image for George K..
2,759 reviews370 followers
December 23, 2015
Το μικρό αυτό βιβλίο το τσίμπησα από το φετινό Παζάρι βιβλίου, με μόλις τριάμισι ευρώ, και αποτελεί την τρίτη μου επαφή με το έργο του Τζακ Κέρουακ, μετά το "Σατόρι στο Παρίσι" που διάβασα το 2012 και το "Και έβρασαν οι ιπποπόταμοι στις γούρνες τους" που διάβασα πέρυσι τέτοια εποχή. Όσον αφορά το "Πικ", πρόκειται για μια πολύ ωραία, καλογραμμένη και ευκολοδιάβαστη νουβέλα, αφηγητής της οποίας είναι ένα μικρό μαύρο αγόρι, το οποίο το σκάει με τον μεγαλύτερο αδερφό του από το σπίτι της θείας του στην Βόρεια Καρολίνα, με προορισμό αρχικά την Νέα Υόρκη και μετέπειτα την Καλιφόρνια.

Μου άρεσε πάρα πολύ το ύφος της ιστορίας, η εξιστόρηση από τον πιτσιρικά, οι περιγραφές του ταξιδιού και των εμπειριών του. Η γραφή είναι πραγματικά πάρα πολύ καλή, ξεχωριστή, ιδιαίτερη και αρκετά ευχάριστη. Σαν ιστορία είχε αρκετό ψωμί για να αναπτυχθεί περισσότερο, με την όλη περιπλάνηση των αδερφών, και προς το τέλος τα πράγματα έγιναν κάπως βιαστικά, σαν να ήθελε ο συγγραφέας να τελειώσει μια ώρα αρχύτερα. Γενικά, είναι μια πολύ ωραία νουβέλα, με βαθύτερα νοήματα και αρκετή αισιοδοξία, παρά τις όποιες ατυχίες των πρωταγωνιστών. Προτείνεται για μια γρήγορη ανάγνωση.
Profile Image for Jonathan.
994 reviews54 followers
November 24, 2020
In a way this was too short for me to have a great impression of it. Kerouac's last published novel(la) is the story of a young boy, Pic, who lives with his grandfather in North Carolina. When his grandfather dies his brother comes to collect him, takes him back home to New York and from there they travel to San Francisco. Plot-wise there is not much more to it than that. There is a touch of jazz and night clubs, hitching and bus travel, plenty you might expect from Kerouac, but all crammed into 74 pages. Still it was a good read, and nice to know that he kept it going to the end.
Profile Image for Ian Warr.
27 reviews1 follower
January 6, 2015
I quite enjoyed this, although it does end very suddenly as if he gave up on the idea, which is a shame because it has potential if fully developed.
Profile Image for Arax Miltiadous.
596 reviews61 followers
March 26, 2018
Πολύ μικρό και σύντομο για να χωρέσει ένα τεράστιο Κέρουακ μέσα του... Νομίζω πως η προσπάθεια του να ξεφύγει από την μελαγχολία του διαφαίνεται στις σελίδες του βιβλίου σαν και ο ίδιος να γνωρίζει πως είναι απόηχος του εαυτού του και μιας ζωής που φτάνει στο τέλος της. Και η δημιουργία του Πικ, δεν ήταν παρά η προσπάθεια του να πείσει τον εαυτό του και τον αναγνώστη πως ότι και αν έζησε, όπου και αν βρέθηκε,, το παιδί μέσα του παρέμεινε αγνό, επιλέγοντας την περιπέτεια από την επισφαλιση.
Να το διαβάσετε. Δεν είναι παρά ένα τσιγάρο δρόμος και παράλληλα φόρος τιμής στον λογοτέχνη.
Profile Image for Kostas.
19 reviews2 followers
September 5, 2021
Ήταν βιβλίο έκπληξη, από τα καλύτερα του Κέρουακ. Σύντομο, απλό με τόσες όμως εικόνες από ταξίδια, ανθρώπους, μουσική, δρόμο, όλα όσα υπάρχουν στο έργο του συμπυκνωμένα και ώριμα. Γεμάτο συναίσθημα και θέληση για ζωή.
Profile Image for Άννα Μακρή.
Author 2 books28 followers
April 13, 2018
Σαν δροσιά σε μεσημεριάτικη κάψα, είναι ο Κέρουακ.
Profile Image for Jim.
Author 10 books83 followers
December 31, 2013
From the sounds of things this is something Kerouac kluged together to make a quick buck. The core of the book was written in 1951—this was when the character of Pictorial Review Johnson sprang to life—to which he grafted in the story of the Prophet on Times Square (first drafted in 1941), a chapter about a fudge factory deleted from Town and the City (1950) and the full story of the Ghost on the Susquhanna which had been cut from On the Road (1957) and it actually comes together quite nicely. The reason for this is that it’s a buddy/road novel and they generally consist of a beginning, an end and any number of assorted stops in between.

The story is a simple enough one. Pic has been living with his grandfather who can no longer care for him. An aunt takes him in but really doesn’t have room for him and yet when the boy’s older brother comes from New York to take charge of him he’s sent packing and the intention is for Pic to go into foster care. His brother, Slim, is having none of this, creeps back to the house later that night and runs away with the boy. Pic narrates the story in a thick dialect that takes some getting used to especially when you’re a Scot and the only reference you have when it comes to black culture is film and TV but I coped. What’s particularly charming about the narration is that it’s addressed to his absent grandfather. Pic manages to convey his wide-eyed wonder most effectively:
[E]ver where I turn my ear I hear au-tos, and folkses talkin, and all kinds of noises and music, I tell you, it was the noise of ever’body doin something at the same time all over with they hands and feet and voices, jess as plain.
Having written stories in dialect I know how hard it is to get it right and so, yes, you can nit-pick and you will find flaws and inconsistencies but on the whole Pic is a believable, engaging and colourful narrator which raises the standard of this book a notch because it really is a slight (and rather rushed) work; the whole adventure feels like it’s over in week. The ending was a disappointment but maybe not unrealistic. It all depends on what the narrative represents. If it’s a letter to his grandfather then it’s quite possible that it stops when Pic’s new life takes over and he no longer feels a need to cling to the past. Distractions get in the way and he forgets to finish telling his tale; it lies in a drawer unsent. Of course beginnings and endings are arbitrary choices and Pic’s story obviously begins before the events described in this book and continue on after the last page but the abrupt ending will probably still disappoint most readers even though it’s a logical stopping point. I actually think the real problem is not so much the abruptness of the ending but the brevity of the journey.

On the whole the book had a feel of a YA novel or even younger to be honest but it kept my interest right through to the end. I, and this is very unlike me, just wish he’d found a bit more to talk about.
Profile Image for Designated Hysteric .
379 reviews13 followers
November 7, 2022
If the beauty we ascribe to Kerouac's works is the product of the combination that is his authentic writing style and semi-nudist account of his life, then we can perfectly comprehend why this work is a wicked offense.
Profile Image for Dana Jerman.
Author 7 books72 followers
October 22, 2017
This is a short and sweet little tale. Basically Jack's whole life in miniature with a heavy accent.
25 reviews
February 16, 2020
Read this while listening to Miles Davis' Kind of Blue. Sets the perfect mood.
Profile Image for Irs. Non.
57 reviews
September 13, 2023
Знайшла цю книгу українською в перекладі ще 90-х років. У мережі чомусь не бачила. У нашому перекладі "Малий Пік", видавництва "Веселка". Коротенька, але дуже класна повість! Більше соціально-психологічна. Ведеться від імені хлопчика.
Малий Пік розповідає нам і дідусю про те, що бачить і думає. Про своє життя. Він залишився рано без батьків, чорношкірий Пікольд живе з дідусем. Вони часто їдять одне і те саме майже кожного дня, будинок розхитується від вітру та часто в певні місяці у ньому дуже холодно. Але хлопчику добре, бо він має ще дідуся. Який втім, скоро теж помирає...
Його забирає тітка, де ітак "8 голодних ротів треба кормити, а тут ще ти добавився". Його називають проклятим, а старий дід Джелкі все більше його лякає дивними розповідями...
Profile Image for Enzo Sahota.
30 reviews
October 28, 2025
When I first read the blurb for this book, and thought, “Oh Jack, what have you done now with your ‘beautiful Negro dialect’ in this story. My expectations were not high, but I was really surprised by how enjoyable the book was. If anyone claims that Kerouac is not a very talented writer, this book would be a good counter-argument to them. It’s a shame that the book ended so abruptly, it felt as if Kerouac planned to write a full novel, which would have described Pic and his brother’s journey to California, but he gave up and decided to conclude the novella with the short and concise final chapter. It’s honestly a shame, as I felt that this could have ended up being one of Kerouac’s stronger works if he would have just stuck with it instead of giving up and cutting it short.
Profile Image for Charlie.
48 reviews3 followers
June 25, 2023
"Nechci si furt stěžovat, ale do prkýnka, i když jsem na světě rád a dovedu ho užívat každej den vod rána do večera, [...] ale neni to prostě vono, kdy v baráku neni ani cent a všude dluhů až černo. Dyť to připomíná spíš žalář, do prkýnka, než normální lidskej domov."
Profile Image for Erwin Vermeulen.
122 reviews1 follower
April 4, 2022
Nice, short read. Like in many of Kerouac's stories there is wandering and jazz and the worries of poverty.
3 reviews
May 13, 2020
Απλό, όμορφο, συγκινητικό, καλή παρέα για μικρο ταξίδι.
Profile Image for Jude Burrows.
163 reviews1 follower
December 4, 2024
a wonderfully succinct example of everything that is beautiful about kerouac’s writing. ‘pic’ makes up for a slow beginning by encapsulating the soft and sincere energy of two brothers hitchhiking between coasts as they move from an old life to a new one. kerouac evokes the tender love that people are capable of in all walks of life, stripping back humanity to its soul and tipping it up into the light. the difference in prose to kerouac’s other works was both dynamic and impressive. a novel meant to be read in the space of an afternoon. ‘look at this place we’ve been livin in. we leave it, someone else comes in, and life is jess a dream. don’t it remind you of old cold cruel world to look at it? those floors and bare walls. seemed we never lived here, and i never loved you inside of it.’
Profile Image for Sashko  Liutyj.
355 reviews40 followers
July 25, 2012
книжка з розряду "дитяча література для дорослих".
постійно викликала асоціації з Зачарованою Десною.
хороша і добра.
Profile Image for Ira Kyrtsiou.
8 reviews3 followers
June 17, 2015
A cute book I enjoyed reading but it lacks the wow factor.
Profile Image for Max Nemtsov.
Author 187 books576 followers
September 25, 2017
Ванька Жуков, каким его видел Керуак, на самом деле, если присмотреться к тексту внимательней.
1,069 reviews48 followers
June 20, 2020
I really enjoyed this novella, so much so that it likely deserves a higher score. Pic is a charming and believable character, as are his brother and his brother's wife. The striking contrast between rural North Carolina and Harlem, New York is very well observed; the landscape, the laws, the people - the story draws these differences so well that they feel like entirely separate countries within Pic's experience. The idea that a poor child in 1948, who has lived his entire life in a small plot in the South, would go to New York and then a cross country trip to California, there is a romanticism to the story that Kerouac handled well.

The problem? Two. First, and this is a minor problem, Pic's Southern drawl "leaks." It sort of loses its flare as the book moves along, as though Kerouac sort of lost sight of it as he got into the rhythm of the writing. Second, the end of the book is jarringly abrupt. The entire book is a charming journey, full of insightful detail, until the end, when a month of time is wrapped into a few short sentences and the story just stops. To be honest, it's likely the single most abrupt ending to any book I've ever read, so abrupt that it reads as though Kerouac simply gave up on the story and closed it out in a few short paragraphs so as to be done with it. This story has another 30 pages out there somewhere itching to be told.

Had the book been longer, I would have loved it. As it stands, it's a well written and charming book.
21 reviews3 followers
August 17, 2020
I agree with other reviews that say this book is really more of a longer short story than a fully developed novel. That's too bad because there is a lot of potential here. This is the only Kerouac book that I've read (I've read 14 of his novels so far) where his fictionalized self isn't the focus and/or narrator. It would have been so interesting to read a more in-depth story of being on the road from the perspective of a child who is forced to travel that way because of circumstance instead of choosing to do so to gain life experience.

I had heard terrible things about this book for a long time before I read it. The dialect is overdone in a few places, but overall this was better than what I had expected. Something I liked a lot was the positive relationship between Pic and his brother, Slim. When Slim is introduced, he sounds like he'll be nothing but trouble and lead Pic into a bad situation, but it was a pleasant surprise to see how much he does care about Pic and is trying everything to make a good life for both of them and his wife.

This is a really quick read. I wouldn't say it's an essential part of Kerouac's oeuvre, but it is definitely worth checking out if you want to read Kerouac trying to expand beyond his out life story. The big downside is that you will feel like there was a lot more to be told, kind of like you only read of the chapters in a book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Profile Image for Sabina K.
58 reviews
May 5, 2021
‘MAG’ - translated from the original version ‘PIC’- is a beautiful short tale. Written by one of the lead writers of the 'beat generation,' this book captures some of the American life during the mid-20th century. It is a narrative about the black, lower-class whose people somehow wander through life. The story's narrator is a black little boy. Together with his grown-up brother, Mag gets to spend some of his childhood living 'on the road' - travelling from his native North Carolina to discover a new, better life on the Californian land.

I have got this book by pure accident. While I was waiting for my train yesterday, I noticed it on the train station's 'bookshelf.' I took it with me, in case of getting bored on my way. I have heard plenty about Kerouac before, but not a thing about this concrete novel. It was a Czech translation, which would explain the title 'MAG' instead of the original 'PIC.' After reading the first few sentences, I grew to be absolutely blown away by this short tale. I found it unbelievably good.

It is a short piece, due to which I aim to avoid saying much about it here. I want to say none but one thing. It is a beautiful piece of literature, which I cannot but encourage everyone to read.
Profile Image for Natasha Anastasiou.
268 reviews2 followers
October 8, 2024
Ένα βιβλίο διαλεγμένο με προσοχή, δεύτερο χέρι, από το βιβλιοπωλείο της Αλοννήσου, όπου οι άνθρωποι αγαπούν αυτό που κάνουν και φαίνεται…
Ένα βιβλίο, το τελευταίο μυθιστόρημα του Τζακ Κερουακ, δε θα μπορούσε παρά μόνο να έχει ταξιδέψει και αυτό σε πολλά χέρια και μέρη…

Μικρό αλλά όμορφο, από έναν άνθρωπο που ήξερε να γράφει. Είναι η ιστορία του Πικ, ενός μικρού μαύρου αγοριού, ζει στη Βόρεια Καρολίνα με τον παππού του και όταν αυτός πεθαίνει ξεκινά με τον αδερφό του ένα ταξίδι ως τη Νέα Υόρκη και από κει στο Σαν Φρανσισκο. Ένα οδοιπορικό δυο αγοριών, τη δεκαετία του 50’, μόλις σε 88 σελίδες, μας δίνει εικόνες από την τζαζ σκηνή και τα clubs της εποχής, τις δυσκολίες αλλά και την αισιοδοξία των δυο αγοριών.
Η εξιστόρηση γίνεται από τον Πικ, το αγόρι, και είναι σα να εκφράσει τη νεότητα που κράτησε ο Κέρουακ κρυμμένη μέσα του. Είναι πολύ ευχάριστο να διαβάζεις κάτι διαφορετικό από τον συγγραφέα, κάτι πιο αισιόδοξο και μικρό, αν και τελειώνει κάπως βεβιασμένα.

Ένα λιτό, ειλικρινές και αληθινό μυθιστόρημα.
Profile Image for Daniil Vilenskiy.
98 reviews4 followers
March 16, 2021
Последняя повесть Керуака, при переводе на русский
потерявшая вместе с южным диалектом и часть своего очарования, но и без этого способная понравиться даже тем, кому битники в целом не по душе.

Десятилетний Пик растёт в небольшом городке в Северной Каролине вместе со столетним дедом, бывшим рабом. Мать Пика умерла, отец давно бросил семью, а старший брат Шнур (Слим) уехал искать счастья на север. Когда дед умирает, Пик остаётся на попечении у своей тётки, семья которой лишнему рту оказывается не рада. Пика чуть было не отправляют в приют, когда неожиданно вернувшийся Слим вызволяет его и увозит с собой в Нью-Йорк. Дальнейшие путешествия Пика и Слима приносят им сплошные невзгоды, но оба брата встречают их с редким оптимизмом, верой в ч��ловеческую доброту и уверенностью в завтрашнем дне, и мир, будто бы под влиянием их взгляда, действительно меняется и начинает этому взгляду соответствовать.
117 reviews1 follower
March 7, 2023
It's a fairly straightforward story, about a young man who goes to live with his brother and then travel across America. The first part of the book is in a dialect hard to read and it doesn't flow very well accordingly. However, once Pic gets out and onto the road it improves and the story takes hold - it's a nice story and a happy one with a lovely conclusion. The writing is difficult to start with but the challenging dialect at the beginning drops away and makes it much easier to follow and enjoy.
Profile Image for AnaMejzr.
159 reviews
July 13, 2022
Přečetla jsem si to v češtině.
Lehká kniha o cestě, o život a smrt která zahrnuje kromě dobrodružství tak témata jak jsou racism a americká společnost a mentalita v polovině minulého století.
Překlad byla také moc dobrá práce.
Akorát konec byl pro mě trošku neočekávaně rychle. Možná protože takhle kniha byla napsána na konci jeho života a publikována až po jeho smrti.
Nicméně, suprová četba! Doporučuji!
Displaying 1 - 30 of 76 reviews

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