The Subterraneans - Jack Kerouac (1959) - The role of jazz in the novel

Extract

[...] It is a jazz swing with words. The spontaneity confers a sort of "life drive," as a palpitation, a breath, something essential: sentences have a real musical rhythm. Palpitations had a huge importance for Kerouac, it was the rhythm that he imputed to the jazz. Palpitations are really linked with his short love story with Mardou too. Both are inseparable. The novel (like the jazz inspiration) ended with the love story. It is the final chord. Finally, he borrowed from jazz the figure of "breath" which is central in his writing. [...]

[...] The Subterraneans - Jack Kerouac (1959) - The role of jazz in the novel The Subterraneans is a Jack Kerouac's novel written in the 50s (written in 1953 and published in 1958). This novella is not fictional, it deals with a very short romance that Jack Kerouac had with an African American woman, Alena Lee (New York, 1953). But it is bad form to have this kind of relation in the 50s. Obviously, this relationship serves as a main theme. [...]

[...] We can give the same definition about The Subterraneans In this sphere of influence, Kerouac created a sort of literary technique inspired by jazz be-bop. He termed this model "the spontaneous prose." This technique is akin to a stream of consciousness. The author expresses his thought as it occurs, without a structured way. The Subterraneans is one of the best examples of the spontaneous prose method and the free-flowing style. Kerouac wanted to make with words what be-bop musicians made with their musical instruments. [...]

[...] Jazz can become a new perspective of reading for the novel. As a matter of fact, jazz is present through Mardou's character: she is part American, part African, and consequently, is a perfect representative of this Afro-American music. According to the author: "She is the only girl I've ever known who could really understand bop and sing it" 57). He described Mardou as mixture of langue and style of talking and use of words I'd never heard before except in certain rare girls, of course, white and so strange . [...]

[...] English was not his mother tongue, so it was not a problem for him moving away from writing conventions. His prose retranscribed an immediate emotion and the intensity of the present time. Kerouac wrote without corrections; it was a sort of improvisation (or jam session) without interruptions; words sprang up on the paper like notes in musical instruments. It was a nervous style, but flexible. Rhythm was important. Kerouac gave a definition of himself as a `jazz poet.' He wrote the book in only three days. [...]