Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac

by Gerald Nicosia

Book Overview

In 1969 Jack Kerouac died a premature death. While his legendary lifestyle and unique creative talent made him a hero in his lifetime, his literary influence has grown steadily since. With "Memory Babe (a childhood nickname honoring Kerouac's feats of memory), Gerald Nicosia gives us a complete biography of Jack Kerouac--an honest, discriminating and, above all, compassionate assessment. This edition is enhanced by many rare photographs never before...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 039462243X
• ISBN13: 9780394622439
• Release Date: January 1983
• Publisher: Grove/Atlantic
• Length: 768 Pages
• Weight: 2.10 lbs.

Customer Reviews

Midwest Book Review - riveting bio, skillfully written

Chronologically, from birth to death, author Nicosia tells Kerouac's life story with unflinching honesty and utmost respect. Blessed with a sharp memory, very early on Jack's childhood friends nicknamed him "Memory Babe" and that is where the book got its name. Packed with fascinating details and exquisitely written, this book needs to be discovered by a younger generation of readers. Many of us alive today have heard of Jack Kerouac but I doubt few know the details of his tragic life. That he remains the voice of a generation and a literary icon goes without saying. Kerouac was a physically beautiful but emotionally flawed man with a tormented spirit. He spent his life as man and writer trying to prove that "the past is the root of the future, and that a man cannot live without the continuity of both." Jack remembered everything he heard, as if words were sacred and his mind was a sponge. Despite his many flaws, he always paid "exquisite attention to the sound of language." Even as he mapped new territory as a writer, Kerouac was adrift as a man. As the first spokesman for the "beat" generation, he perfected that voice with guilt, self-doubt, and self-punishment. This biography clearly states Jack's definition of "beat": "beat down, beat up, all-tired-out." Still, his words were always carefully chosen. Word by word, Kerouac carefully created phrases to express time, place, emotion, and man's senses, communicating deep meaning. His writing was full of symbolism and visions, allegory and veiled reality, profanity and parody, as he groped his way with prose towards his own death. For his time, Kerouac's verbal ingenuity was unsurpassed. Personally, his charismatic male persona disguised a quicksilver child, mischievous and unpredictable. As he aged, Jack became a brooding, paranoid, hard drinking drug user, insecure in his sexuality and prone to alcoholic blackouts. As addiction wrecked his health, his light slowly drowned out and he became a lonely and despairing figure. But for decades in between youth and death, this trusting, shy, socially awkward man became a literary legend. Jack Kerouac rubbed shoulders with Jackson Pollock, Allen Ginsberg, and every jazz great of his day. He was published by several of the major New York publishing houses. His prose and poetry were unprecedented and have not been successfully imitated since. He died young, never fully realizing the effect of his mind and his work on subsequent generations. Gerald Nicosia has penned THE definitive biography of Kerouac. From letters, journals, tapes, interviews, and Jack Kerouac's books themselves - all faithfully recorded in a detailed bibliography - the author has skillfully dissected the life of the "beat" generation's strongest voice. The result is both scholarly and deeply personal, touching and disturbing. It should be required reading in every college and university, and a must have book for any reader curious about Kerouac and his time.

Unbelievable!

I have read alot of biographies on Kerouac, but this one doesnt even compare to the rest. This book is full of details. I mean, minute details, with input and interviews from obscure people (as well as the prominent) in Jack's life. Buy it, read it, be moved!

Best Bio of a Great Writer

I've read pretty much everything on Kerouac and the Beats ever written for several years. This is by far the best bio. His whole life is covered in the utmost detail..Good work Gerald Nicosia!

This Is The Best Kerouac Biography By Far

I have read and own virtually everything that Jack Kerouac has written, and most of his biographies, and believe that this is the best one, by far. This is the most bang for your buck, I would say this book in hardcover should be worth about $50 to the true Kerouac fan. If anyone truly "understands" Jack (as much as anyone, especially someone this brilliant and complex can be completely understood), it's Gerald Nicosia, a great writer in his own right. I hope to meet him someday to thank him for this wonderful book. The Diamond Sutra = Compassion.

Great biography and great writing.

Memory Babe is in a rare category. This book accomplishes two things simultaneously that individually are rarely possible. First, it is an authoritative, definitive biography about one of the most influential people of the 1900s -- Jack Kerouac. Second, it is written in the kind of masterful style usually reserved only for great novelists. It is a biography that is also a work of art, just as a famous novel is a story that is also a work of art. In both cases, the reader's life is influenced -- spiritually and morally -- while the reading itself becomes an enlightening experience. The reader cannot help but forget they are reading a biography, so detailed, interesting and superbly crafted is the writing. When the reader remembers they are reading a biography, they are in awe at the years of painstakingly complete research that obviously preceded the final product. Enjoy reading about the life a profound man. Enjoy reading about him as told by a talented author -- Gerald Nicosia.