Journal of a Sabbatical

December 10, 1999

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Today's Reading: Wild Fruits by Henry David Thoreau, Autumn from the Journals of Henry David Thoreau edited by H.G.O. Blake, Atop an Underwood by Jack Kerouac - edited by Paul Marion

The day is so gray it feels like it will rain any minute but the rain takes all day to arrive. Brass bands play Christmas carols in warm drizzle under dripping awnings as the Main Street merchants stay open late. This does not exactly infuse me with Christmas spirit, let alone a desire to go shopping.

I hung out at Starbucks all afternoon sipping caffe latte and talking with friends - serially instead of in parallel as everybody came in one at a time. The sky just got grayer and grayer until it felt like it was a heavy woolen blanket laid out over Main Street. I couldn't tell what time of day it was when Ned came in to the coffee shop without looking at my watch. We talked some more about where to find a record player (or a turntable with a built in amp) to play Nancy's vast vinyl collection (she knows that's what I'm giving her for Christmas so I'm not letting out a big secret by writing about it), high-tech stocks, oldsquaws and other ducks, and stuff -except we haven't made any progress on "How Woofie Saved Lhasa" since yesterday.

Ned left and I was about to finish my coffee and leave too when Tom came in. I got talking with Tom about my upcoming Antarctica trip, Ned's book, Wild Fruits, and some project Julie is doing on the Merrimack River for which she wants to borrow books from me. Tom also reminded me that Paul is reading from Atop an Underwood at the Andover Bookstore tonight. I had it marked on my calendar but I hadn't looked at the calendar so it's good he reminded me. Main Street is going to be blocked off tonight, for Christmas shopping, not for Paul's reading. But the town is thinking of changing the shopping night to tomorrow because of the rain.

Julie arrives and describes the Merrimack River thing to me and also what books Tom told her I had, which doesn't match what I actually have. We went over how my books relate to her project, which is specific to Lawrence, and tried to figure out what she needs. She reminded me about the reading tonight... It suddenly dawned on me that I'd been in Starbucks for 4 hours and I was parked at a two hour meter. Oops. Miraculously there's no ticket on my car.

I got to the bookstore late for the reading so I had to stand. Also missed Julie's introduction. However, I was there in plenty of time to hear Paul give life to Kerouac's words. The "stories", "pieces" or whatever you want to call them in Atop an Underwood give a powerful insight into Kerouac's development as a writer. Many of the themes, styles, techniques he used to great effect in On the Road show up in stuff he wrote as early as age 13 (though in less developed form). Literary influences like Thoreau, Melville, and especially Whitman show up then too. Kerouac was well and broadly read and that shows up in his writing. One new thing that Paul uncovered in doing this project was that Kerouac read and was consciously influenced by a 1930's "proletarian" writer, Albert Halper - best known, if known at all, for a novel called Union Square. All this really supports the idea that Kerouac really was a serious and committed writer from a young age.

The question and answer session after the reading was excellent. The audience ranged from people who are Kerouac scholars to people who didn't know anything about him. The questions were thoughtful and brought lots of new insight, at least to me. I should've taken notes. Anyway, it was a much richer discussion than I've ever heard after a reading at Andover Bookstore or anyplace else.

Afterwards, Tom introduced me to Arno Something darn I forgot his name, a Finnish photographer who has a exhibition up at the Addison Gallery and a new book out. He showed us the new book, a series of human figures posed with bridges and buildings and other constructed things. He makes the human body look like an architectural element. During the question and answer, this guy had asked a lot about Kerouac's connection with Robert Frank and whether Robert Frank had ever visited Lowell (not in Kerouac's time or with Kerouac according to Paul; recently (1995?) with Jock Reynolds when there was a Robert Frank exhibit at the Addison according to Julie). So I was kind of expecting to see a kind of Robert Frank spontaneous documentary esthetic in Arno Something's work. I was totally unprepared for the stylized architecturalness of it. I've gotta get myself over to the Addison to check out the exhibit.

The young Jack Kerouac sometimes signed his notebook entries JK, FP. FP is for Furious Poet, so let me sign off just for tonight JE, FP.