Harry's Kerouac and Dostoevsky

By William Kemsley, Jr

Long Description: Harry grew up as a Hippy, fascinated with the Beat Generation authors – especially Jack Kerouac. He now is a successful entrepreneur driving a sporty red Corvette, which venerates Kerouac, his favorite author, on his license plate. Arriving at a parking lot in the center of Taos, New Mexico he spends some time with the parking lot attendant reminiscing of the times he was reading and becoming inspired by Kerouac.

The discussion revolves around Kerouac’s books and scenes from On the Road and particularly the Dharma Bums. The contrasting views of the conservative parking lot attendant with the former Hippy creates a number of fascinating scenes.

• Language: English
• Publisher: William Kemsley, Jr
• Release date: Apr 10, 2015
• ISBN: 9781310878213

William Kemsley, Jr

William Kemsley, Jr. is said to be the father of modern hiking and backpacking. He is founder of Backpacker magazine, co-founder of American Hiking Society, inductee in the Appalachian Trail Hall of Fame and author of several books on the outdoors.Kemsley is currently writing a book on geezeering on the trail, tidbits of advice for elder hikers or those who would be elder hikers. He is drawing upon his eight decades of hiking and backpacking in mountains, deserts, canyons and forests both in the US and Europe. His expected publishing date is late fall 2019. Meanwhile he is blogging about senior hiking, as well as, spritiual topics on his website, williamkemsley.com.

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Harry’s

Kerouac and Dostoevsky

By

William Kemsley, Jr.

Smashwords Edition

Copyright 2011 by William Kemsley, Jr.

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Chapter 1

Harry’s Kerouac

Willy had to chuckle at the vanity license plates on a few of the vehicles that came into the parking lot that day. There was first a van with a big jovial family from Oklahoma. They debarked laughing and joshing. The license plate echoed their mood, in capital letters YOU WHO? Then one came in with a plate reading, THANK GOD I’M AN ATHEIST. Nice garnish for the travel flavor of the license plates on the first nine cars in the lot that morning – Oklahoma, New Mexico, Colorado, Missouri, Tennessee, Indiana, Texas, Michigan, California.

The California plate on a vintage Corvette convertible was most curious. Willy asked the driver about it.

The driver said, I don’t want his name to be forgotten.

Being one of those gotta-wait-for-my-lady-to-shop situations, Willy sat down with the Corvette driver in the shade of the portale to chat.

"Does JKEROAC on your license mean Jack Kerouac?"

Yeah, license-plate shorthand.

Do you mind my asking why you don’t want Kerouac’s name forgotten?

It’s a complicated story, Harry said. Kerouac gave me such a good time back when I read his books. You must be familiar with them if you’re asking about him. Did you enjoy them?

"Oh, sure. I enjoyed On the Road. But some of his others, like Subterraneans, were just far too disjointed. More of the same rowdiness. But they didn’t tell anything of any more interest."

"Yeah, they got rather unraveled. I liked best his first two, On the Road and Dharma Bums."

They tried to recall names of Kerouac’s characters and who they represented in life.

Willy said, "I tired quickly, too, of his decadence. Too much sex, drugs and rock-n-roll. Mind you, I’m no prude. It is just the looseness of Kerouac’s attitude about these things. And his rebelliousness, I guess. Made me lose interest. Set