2. Adverse / Averse
0Adverse means harmful or unfavorable.
0Adverse reactions to this medication have
been noted in 40% of patients.
0Averse means reluctant or opposed to.
0He was not averse, however, to taking
chances for himself.
4. AGENDA
0 New Teams 5-6
0 The Beats
0 Big Sur
0 Postmodernism
0 Style
0 Themes
5. New Groups: Three Minutes!
1. You must change at least
50% of your team after
each project is completed.
2. You may never be on a
team with the same person
more than twice.
3. You may never have a new
team comprised of more
than 50% of any prior
team.
7. The Beats
0 The literary movement called the Beat Generation burst
into American consciousness with two books published
in the late 1950s. The first, Allen Ginsberg’s Howl and
Other Poems (1956), stirred both controversy and an
obscenity trial for Lawrence Ferlinghetti, who offered
copies for sale in his San Francisco bookstore.
0 The second book, Jack Kerouac's On the Road (1957) had
a profound cultural effect when it was published. It was
the Beat Generation’s manifesto.
9. Postmodern Aspects
• Kerouac faced a postwar era caught between dwindling modernism and emerging
postmodernism. This was a time of transition and experimentation and Kerouac
personifies that era.
• One example of the confluence of the two periods shows in how he relies on his religious
background yet at the same time questions it by exploring other religions. Kerouac was a
dedicated Catholic, yet his open-mindedness to other religions demonstrates that
modernism and post-modernism can be embraced simultaneously.
• Other postmodern aspects of Big Sur
• Stream of consciousness and thought, or as Kerouac himself liked to call it
“spontaneous prose,” which forced him to include all of the details of his
experience.
• Explicit themes of sexual encounters
• Alcoholism
• Fragmentation
• Isolation
• Mental Illness
11. Style
Genre
Roman à clef: literally translated: novel with a key: a novel in which
real events and people figure under disguise.
This is a fictional novel, but it is based on the real events of a six week
period in Kerouac's life.
Yet, we must consider that Big Sur is a work of fiction. While the
events and people are real, Kerouac has used his imagination in
creating the complete work.
Setting
The novel is called Big Sur. We can assume the setting is important.
Narrator
The first person narrator creates an intimacy between narrator, story,
and reader.
It also forces us to question his reliability.
13. QHQ: Culture vs. Counterculture
0 How is the American middle class portrayed in Big Sur?
0 I suppose the family that drives past him when he tries to
hitchhike represent America?
0 Considering the situation of the tourist and the struggling
narrator being allegorical of class division, what can the
blisters represent?
0 How can this emergence of the middle class be reconciled
with this emergence of the beatnik in the same postmodern
world?
0 Is he talking about how America is very shallow and cares
only about appearances?
0 Based on this text, does Jack portray the beat lifestyle as
“better” or “worse” than the typical American lifestyle?
14. 0 How does Jack Kerouac’s method of stream of
consciousness writing compare to earlier writers who
attempted to capture the same internal processes in
different ways?
0 Is Kerouac’s iconic diction and syntax the best choice for
the success of this novel’s message?
0 Does Kerouac care if people are able to extract a main
message from his work, or is he writing simply “for art’s
sake”?
0 Is Kerouac’s writing meant to be a tribute to the new
modern Beatnik culture or a rejection of normal writing
style?
0 Is there a dark tone focused in this story?
15. 0 How does the history of the Bay Area relate to Kerouac’s
perspective of America’s transformation?
0 What is up with narrator always being alone and only
having his pet cat, Tyke, as the sole source that he can just
let himself go and just play?
0 Why doesn’t the narrator deal with the loss of his brother,
instead of trying to replace him?
0 What do the death’s in Jack Kerouac’s “Big Sur” signify?
0 Why does the narrator feel he’s going crazy? Seeing flying
saucers… and sometimes even saying he might be going
mad. “…before I went mad I still had such preoccupations)”
beginning of ch6
16. HOMEWORK
0 Read Lesbian, gay, and queer criticism
0 Post #31
0 Explore how you might apply this criticism to texts we
have read.
0 QHQ
