Yesterday saw the release of the trailer for a forthcoming documentary about Jack Kerouac called Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of a Nation. It seemed to garner a substantial amount of attention on social media. Here is the YouTube link, which has gotten notably fewer views:
Apparently, the film will be in cinemas from August 1. Here’s a quick summary:
KEROUAC’S ROAD: THE BEAT OF A NATION explores Jack Kerouac’s legacy through stories of modern “on-the-roaders” and those who knew or were inspired by him. Featuring Josh Brolin, W. Kamau Bell, Matt Dillon and more, it reveals a rarely seen side of Kerouac and offers a fresh take on On the Road and its lasting impact on America.
There is a little more information in this People article but apart from that I do not see a huge amount online. I do look forward to seeing the documentary once it’s been released though.
In other Kerouac news, Jack Kerouac: The Buddhist Years was recently released. I believe there had been some sort of delay because it was meant to be released a few months ago but it finally came out earlier this month.
We ran a few excerpts of it earlier this year, which you can read here. These are explained by Charles Shuttleworth, the book’s editor. Marc Olmsted also reviewed it for us here and it was reviewed at Simon Warner’s Substack here. The Kerouac estate has a detailed overview here and it’s on Amazon here. You can also order directly from the publisher here.
