Beschreibung:

KEROUAC, Jack (1922-1969). Autograph manuscript signed (“Jack Kerouac”) to Robert Dodd n.p., 28 February 1964. Two pages (280 x 213mm), plain paper stock containing Dodd’s 12 typed questions for Kerouac with Kerouac’s copious answers in ink (creased where folded for mailing, small loss to top left corner not affecting text). Provenance : Robert A. Dodd. Kerouac’s candid handwritten reply to a young man’s questions about being a “Beatnik,” his life philosophy, his thoughts on Montana, and more . Students in Robert Dodd’s ninth-grade class were told to contact their favorite writer with their own unique series of questions relating specifically to that writer. Young Dodd chose Jack Kerouac; the author replied at length to his questionnaire, which includes queries about his classification as a “Beatnik” (his answer: “I never was a Beatnik – it was the newspapers and critics who tagged that label on me....”), life philosophy (“My philosophy is ‘No Philosophy,’ just ‘Things-As-They-Are’”), career goals (“Be a great writer making everybody believe in Heaven”), the ideal way of life (“Hermit in the woods...”), his thoughts on fame (“My name is like Crackerjacks, famous, but very few people buy my books...”), and segregation (“[t]he Irish and Italians of Massachusetts never paraded in protest, just worked hard and made it ”). Interestingly, Kerouac is most expansive in response to the final question: whether he has visited Montana. His answer fills three-quarters of the page, beginning: “Great day, my favorite state! – I wrote about Montana in ‘On the Road’ but the publishers took it out behind my back... I stayed one night, but up all night, in a saloon in Butte, to keep out of the 40-below February cold, among sheep ranchers playing poker."