Freedom

“Happy. Just in my swim shorts, barefooted, wild-haired, in the red fire dark, 

singing, swigging wine, spitting, jumping, running—that's the way to live. 

All alone and free in the soft sands of the beach by the sigh of the sea 

out there, with the Ma-Wink fallopian virgin warm stars reflecting on the 

outer channel fluid belly waters. And if your cans are redhot and you can't hold 

them in your hands, just use good old railroad gloves, that's all.” 

                                                                                                   ― Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums

Jean-Louis "Jack" Kerouac; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969, was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation.

Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic spirituality, jazz, promiscuity, Buddhism, drugs, poverty, and travel. His writings have inspired other writers, including Ken Kesey, Bob Dylan, Eddie Vedder, Richard Brautigan, Curtis Meanor,Thomas Pynchon, Lester Bangs, Tom Robbins, Will Clarke, Ben Gibbard, Haruki Murakami, Jacquelyn Landgraf.

Kerouac 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. In 1969, at age 47, Kerouac died from internal bleeding due to long-standing abuse of alcohol. Since his death Kerouac's literary prestige has grown and several previously unseen works have been published. All of his books are in print today, among them: On the Road, Doctor Sax, The Dharma Bums, Mexico City Blues, The Subterraneans,Desolation Angels, Visions of Cody and Big Sur. 

Read more here.

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