JACK KEROUAC
u003cpu003eu003cbu003eA poignant masterpiece of wrenching personal expression from the author of u003c/bu003eu003ciu003eu003cbu003eOn the Roadu003c/bu003eu003c/iu003eu003cbu003e and u003c/bu003eu003ciu003eu003cbu003eThe Dharma Bumsu003c/bu003eu003c/iu003eu003cbu003eu003ciu003eu003cbru003eu003cbru003eu003c/iu003eu003c/bu003eIn this 1962 novel, Kerouac's alter ego Jack Duluoz, overwhelmed by success and excess, gravitates back and forth between wild binges in San Francisco and an isolated cabin on the California coast where he attempts to renew his spirit and clear his head of madness and alcohol. Only nature seems to restore him to a sense of balance. In the words of Allen Ginsberg,u003ciu003e Big Suru003c/iu003e "reveals consciousness in all its syntactic elaboration, detailing the luminous emptiness of his own paranoiac confusion."u003c/pu003e