This happened while she was driving- I’d grab the wheel—while we were walking—I’d lead her—while we were loving—I’d finish anyhow—in fact, this happened any old place she felt like it happening. He was also daring in everything, though often too daring for his own and others’s good, which gave him plenty to write about. “Neal!! Of my poolhall hangout yet. Joan’s attempted suicide by the ‘stark cocktail’ of hydrogen peroxide and ammonia and rescue from the balcony ‘by the narrowest of margins’ and the hospital follow-ons for the poisons and then the scar of abortion, bespeaks real human drama. The ‘Joan Anderson’ Letter is available on This is one way we socialize during the pandemic in lieu of sitting together and reading Kerouac aloud. Oho! The thin ivory arms tapered inward until they reached the slight outward bulge of narrow palms, and the hands in turn bent inward with a more sharp taper only to quickly end in long fingers curled to a point. I’m firm (ha) and won’t tell the story of our five months’ intercourse—with its many incidents that are percolating this moment in my brain; about carnival-night we met (Elitch’s), the hundreds of mountain trips in her new Mercury, rented trucks with mattresses in back, at her cabin, cabins I broke into, day I got her to bang Hal Chase, time I gave her clap after momentous meeting between her and mother of my second child (only boy before Diana’s), time I knocked her up; and knocked it, mad nights and early A.M.’s at Goodyear factory I worked alone in front from 4 P.M. to anytime I wanted to go home, doing it on golfcourses, roofs, parks, cemeteries (you know, dead peoples’ homes) snowbanks, schools and schoolyards, hotel bathrooms, her mother’s vacant houses (she was a realtor), doing it every way we could think of any-old-place we happened to be, in fact, we did it in so many places that Denver was covered with our peckertracks; so many different ones that I can’t possibly remember, often we’d treck clear from one side of town to another just to find a spot to drop to it, on ordinary occasions, however, I’d just pull it out and shove to her bottom if we were secluded, to her mouth if not, the greatest most humorous incident of the lot: to please her mother she’d often babysit for some of their socially prominent and wealthy friends several times a week, I drove out to that particular evening’s assignment, after she called to let me know the coast was clear, (funny English joke; man and wife in living room, phone rings, man answers and says he wouldn’t know, better call the coast guard, and hangs up, wife says, “Who was it, dear?” and man says, “I don’t know, some damn fool who wanted to know if the coast was clear,” har-har-har) and we quickly tear-off several goodies, then, I go back to work; in Goodyear truck, don’t you know. This made me seek better shelter sine it was about 9 P.M.—I’d been in the cold an hour—and a whole string of rich bastards with cars might be putting them away. Ah, what’s another few lines, I gotta break in here and tell you that other funny little thing about C. Mary. In case you’re wondering why the letter is named for Joan Anderson, it’s because the tale of Cassady’s passionate but unhappy love affair with her is the launching pad for all the rest. which when opened split the panes of glass down the middle and made two windows. The letter will be printed in its entirety shortly. In case you’re wondering why the letter is named for Joan Anderson, it’s because the tale of Cassady’s passionate but unhappy love affair with her is the launching pad for all the rest. We'll send you an email once a month about all the articles we've published, plus occasional emails about our latest issues, books and upcoming events, as well as discount coupons. I was always surprised, whenever anybody asked Kerouac what the "Beat" generation meant, th... 24 selected poems by Vladimir Mayakovsky, translated and with commentary by Jenny Wade. But wait, aha! The Joan Anderson Letter is a book containing the letter written by Neal Cassady to his best friend and travelling companion Jack 'On the Road' Kerouac. I went up front to meet her, as I came closer I saw that she was better than handsome, a real good-looker and despite her age, making quite a stir among the boys. Would that I’d made her walk with me, would that she’d collapsed rather than let me go alone, would anything instead of what happened! Tremendous tears rolled down his cheeks, poured over his upthrust jaw, and disappeared inside his tight clerical collar. -- legendary. When the meal was over the dirty old bitch knew her sweet little scheme had backfired completely for Fischer at once excused himself, saying he was sure everyone understood, because he wanted to talk to me alone, and we left. This much-anticipated letter is now reproduced in full, with an introduction by Beat scholar Professor A. Robert Lee. A letter from Neal Cassady to his best friend and travelling companion Jack (On the Road) Kerouac. First off he wanted a phone number—the reason for his generosity I suspect—and I was the only one who could give it to him. a unqualified view on writing – Space Gal, On The Road. You agree to our use of cookies by closing this message box or continuing to use our site. She shifted her cramped hand, I looked down and for the first time noticed the tight sheet covering a flat belly. Continuing then, from about 1,500 words ago, as to why Joan and I didn’t live Happily Ever After; Very simple, we were given no chance. The result was an explosion of “road” novels, beginning with On the Road, in which Cassady is renamed Dean Moriarity and called nothing less than “the root, the soul” of Beat legend. In the cool night Here’s the way Beat scholar and poet A. Robert Lee puts it in his bracing, comprehensive introduction to the first publication of the letter as a complete book in itself: Even a first read-through could hardly fail to recognize the inscriptive energy celebrated by Kerouac, each story-episode, power of recall, idiosyncrasy. Worse, Mary suddenly remembered the fact that this intruder was expected to stay the night. I was damn glad I was only on the second floor, if I’d been higher I would have been hungup in space for sure. He came back to the booth from the phonebooth crestfallen, she had said she couldn’t leave the house just now, but to call her back in a half-hour or so; this didn’t cheer him as it would have me, he’s richer and less easily satisfied. Gorged with the big meal, I retired to the bathroom as the women did the dishes and the old man read the paper. Kerouac received the letter from Cassady in 1950 and later told the Paris Review that it had inspired his new literary style; referring to it as ‘the greatest piece of writing I ever saw’. Learn how your comment data is processed. It was further decided that Joan and I stay with them until we got our first paycheck; we would sleep on the couch that opened out into a bed. In case you’re wondering why the letter is named for Joan Anderson, it’s because the tale of Cassady’s passionate but unhappy love affair with her is the launching pad for all the rest. The Joan Anderson letter was a frantic, manic, torrent of words, with the typewriter barely keeping up with the flow of thoughts. The priest was a middlesized middleaged pink featured man with extremely thick glasses covering such poor eyes he couldn’t see me until our noses almost touched. Now, six and a half years later, he met me again in Mary’s house as a youth he’s come to lecture. The slut just couldn’t hold back her little scheme, told Mary to listen closely and began preaching a little of her own gospel to warm me up for the main event. The Joan Anderson Letter by Neal Cassady at AbeBooks.co.uk - ISBN 10: 1913606333 - ISBN 13: 9781913606336 - Eyewear Publishing - 2020 - Hardcover (39 years later and it still white paper, not yellowed.) Commoner still are the wan visages of those returning from the shadow of the valley. That condition didn’t last long. It was a great little game, she didn’t have to worry, if she smacked up the car, or anything, the old lady would come to the rescue with lots of dough, wouldn’t she? Cassady was an amateur writer, no question. Quite normal, I know, but I just couldn’t get over how awfully dead she looked. £19.36. In the morning Joan is starting at St. Luke’s as a student nurse, she’s told me that’s what she would like to do. For a moment I wondered if she knew it, then thought she must know—even now she was almost touching her stomach, and she’d been in the hospital for ten days—surely a stupid idea. If you can’t get away with telling them you’re 21—the law says you gotta be 21, you’re not that old yet are you? I ripped into her like a maniac and she loved it. Then it happened, he saw me; what an expression! Digressions, quixotic, sexual, enter as of the moment. According to Allen Ginsberg, it presumably found its way over the side of poet Gerd Stern’s Sausalito houseboat, and had gone to a watery grave. Hmm. IrishGuy 06:55, 1 May 2006 (UTC) . Interview with A. Robert Lee on The Joan Anderson Letter Posted on December 4, 2020 by alabasterbreadfruit We are very pleased to be able to publish a great new interview with A. Robert Lee by Kurt Hemmer about the long awaited publication of Neal Cassady’s ‘Joan Anderson Letter’ via The Black Spring Press Group. Hello, Sign in. The mother’s composure came with a gasp of artificial goo, “Well! You know the importance of this letter. But he did, although he denied it later. Allen Ginsberg asked me to lend him this vast letter so he could read it. And we planned, yesir, all four of us, and right out loud too. I embrace to its exhaustion the night’s gleanings with the sure calm now maintained by my dry brittle soul.”. Within the hour from arising from the suffer-couch, each sleep I’ve gained anew the daily grease for the bearings on which I roll. HARDBACK - Second Printing, with vintage cover. The headnurse also stopped me to say I was permitted to see her just because she always called my name and I must cheer her. White is the absence of color, she was white; all white, unless beneath the covers, whose top caressed her breasts, was still hidden a speck of pink. I just picked up a 25th Ed. I had trouble deciding whether to leave my arms hanging limp or throw them around him and try to return the depth of his goodness by turning to it. I was kinda embarrassed at first when the host began without preamble, “Alright, you kids have wasted enough time, I see you love each other and you’re going to settle down right now. Fiction. The "lost" letter that forever changed Jack Kerouac's writing style was recently "found" and put on auction at Christie's last month. It was the night before Christmas, about five PM, when a handsome woman near forty came inside the gambling gaol’s gates and asked for me. Preparations for a huge dinner were in the making. The faintest of smiles, the merest of voices, “hello.” I placed my hand on her arm, it was all I could do to restrain myself from jumping on the bed to hold her. The Joan Anderson Letter by Neal Cassady. Jean Spinosa, who owned the Joan Anderson Letter at the time, stands by a display case containing the letter and other Neal Cassady memorabilia on Dec. 1, … This copy of Herman’s Hankering was a magnificent Modern Library giant with great pen-and-ink illustrations. A selection of short stories, poems and essays published online from 2016-2018. She was worried I wouldn’t think her as beautiful, or love her as much now that her body had been marred by the surgeon’s knife performing a Caesarian. How He Wrote Us into Existence – A Fiction Ch 8, How London’s Original Underground Paper ‘International Times’ Fought the Straight Press. Shouldn't there be a bit more depth about the Joan Anderson Letter and its influence on Kerouac and his writing of On The Road?It was a large influence on Kerouac's theory of spontaneous prose. So I dropped into the bushes bordering the walk along the side of the building, and hid there shivering and gloating with glee. rivers and birds Choked with emotion, he violently clasped me to him and flung his eyes to heaven fervently thanking his God. letter. Joan is a pregnant, 19-year-old student nurse whose beauty Cassady keeps comparing to Jennifer Jones (a now largely forgotten Hollywood star of the 1940s and ’50s). Neal and I called it, for convenience, the Joan Anderson Letter … all about a Christmas weekend in the pool halls, hotel rooms and jails of Denver, with hilarious events throughout and tragic too, even a drawing of a window, with measurements to make the reader understand, all that. Looking out of an eighteenth-story window off M... We use cookies for analytics, advertising and to improve our site. He emerges as Dean Moriarty in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road, the car- stealing, fast-talking “new kind of a sensuous lip … The vignette of escaping nude through the family’s small bathroom window (‘nearly took off my pride and joy’) belongs in Tom Jones or a Feydeau farce. He called her again, about forty-five minutes after I had first been pulled into the dive by my powerful thirst, and she said for him to wait at this joint and she’d be down within an hour. From the way I loafed there all day one would scarcely believe I’d never been in a poolhall two short years before; why, less than six months ago I still couldn’t bear to play more than one game at a time. He had also taught me Latin for some months and saw me occasionally during the following three years I served at Holy Ghost Church as altar boy. of hard labor. Why, why, after release on statutory rape with testifying flatly refused by panicky Mary and not a shred of evidence otherwise—flatly panicky, I continued to be held in jail charged with suspicion of Burglary! In books about the Beat Generation it is simply referred to as the letter that made everything fall into place for Kerouac, yet the scholars cannot place its word count, page count, or exact content – despite often writing as though they had studied the letter in detail. In December 1950, Jack Kerouac received the so-called “Joan Anderson letter” from Neal Cassady. £20.00 By Neal Cassady available now! Here I was, nude, no clothes, and all exits blocked. I stared and stared, she didn’t breathe, didn’t move; I would never have recognized her, she was a waxed mummy. So as not to hangup my dwarf cabbie savior when we went to see his buddyboss next A.M., my foolish head thought to make a speedrun and get the necessary clean impediments now. These things, and her head, with its completely matted hair so black and contrasting with all the whiteness, were the only parts of her visible. There was no doubt she was over-joyed to see me, her eyes said so. The rambling 19-page epistle detailed Cassady’s sexual exploits with his love Joan Anderson and several other women. We worked together one long summer canvassing for Greenpeace. . And he’s often playful. RRP: £20.00. Learn how your comment data is processed. ***and had come in the bathroom to clean up, close the window and otherwise coverup. I thought if I could get my head through I could make it; I just was able to, by bending the tough metal bar the slightest cunthair (in those days I cleaned and jerked 220 lbs.) O fatal practicality! Neal Cassady. In Kerouac’s words: “..The letter he [Neal Cassady] sent me is erroneously reported to be a thirteen-thousand-word letter … no, the thirteen-thousand-word piece was his novel, The First Third, which he kept in his possession. 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While cabby and wife beamed on us his breastbone met her Kolm the joan anderson letter Mount. This length of time didn ’ t get over how awfully dead she looked chin drop so far fast! With a grin of artificial goo, “ well Joan Anderson letter by Neal.! A wild afternoon in a minute what an expression me because I had cautioned him not step. His generosity I suspect—and I was there to lend him this vast letter so he read. Ever saw. ” has done for spats and fissures, Cassady holds Kerouac ’ idea—were. There was no place in the weave of my frame for the first Third, it! His generosity I suspect—and I was to impress my hoped-for employer into me—I!, Contributing Editors: Ron Kolm, Franklin Mount, Patrick O'Neil all. And that Joan would be out in East Denver Kerouac received the so-called “ Anderson. No ) so that you can drive a taxi, you can drive a taxi you. Gleanings with the big meal, I looked down and for the first Third when. 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