Episode 3: On the Road by Jack Kerouac

Follow your wanderlust through Jack Kerouac's On the Road. This iconic novel of the Beat Generation takes us to 1950s America. It's a dizzying trip filled with jazz, poetry, friendship, betrayal, and the open road. We revel in the book's relentless momentum and scintillating language. But we also critique the troubling ways that it handles race and gender, and idealizes self-absorption.

Two expert guests expand our view of the book. Jerry Cimino, Founder and Director of the Beat Museum in San Francisco, makes Kerouac's post-war context come alive. He also describes the impact that On the Road had on counterculture movements like the hippies in the 1960s, and its enduring appeal for readers today. We also interview Dr. Jean-Christophe Cloutier, who is Associate Professor of English at the University of Pennsylvania. He tells us about Kerouac's often-overlooked French Canadian background. That in turn challenges us to view this quintessentially American novel in a broader international context.

The clip of David Carradine reading from Jack Kerouac's On the Road comes courtesy of Penguin Random House Audio.

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