Lonesome Traveler

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Lonesome Traveller
Lonesome Traveller cover
Pan Books UK cover
Author Jack Kerouac
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Novel
Publisher Grove Press
Publication date 1960
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages Approx. 182 pages
ISBN ISBN 0-8021-3074-7
Preceded by Visions of Cody
(1960)
Followed by Big Sur
(1962)

A 1960 novel by Jack Kerouac. Lonesome Traveler is a compilation of Kerouac's journal entries about traveling America and various exploits. It covers mostly the same things his previous novels do including relationships, various jobs, and of course his life on the road. However, with the culmination of "The Railroad Earth" (which was published in several magazines), Kerouac further solidified his place in in the realm of biographical non-fiction with a sense of solidarity that is always prevalent in his work.

Implications/Revelations in the book:

  • The United States cannot trust a stalwart wanderer.
  • The "Age of Hitchhiking" is coming to an end.
  • The emergence of the new individualism and disconnect from fellow human beings.
  • The death and domestication of the American culture.
  • The bringing of the new, even if the new does not meet cultural norms.
  • Retaliation to the "Baby Boom" culture with a "culture of the lost"--"The Beat Generation."

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