Graduation Paper:
Jack Kerouac’s October in the Railroad Earth: Writing and Music in a Jam Session
Year: 2014
Abstract
The current paper interprets the poetic work October in the Railroad Earth by the American writer Jack Kerouac from the perspective of the rhythm and its relation with jazz composition principles, one of Kerouac’s most important influences. Studying the sound and the rhythm as an essential element in Kerouac’s work allows a better understanding of his aesthetic proposal as a criticism of the society of his time. The interpretation of the piece is done by analyzing Kerouac’s recordings with the musician Steve Allen entitled Poetry for the Beat Generation, published in 1958. The analysis and interpretation of the piece follows the tenets of literary analysis proposed by Michail Bachtine.
Keywords
rhythm, Jack Kerouac, spontaneous writing, improvisation, jazz, Bebop.
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