Jan Kerouac Explained

Jan Kerouac
Birth Name:Janet Michelle Kerouac
Birth Date:16 February 1952
Birth Place:Albany, New York, U.S.
Death Place:Albuquerque, New Mexico, U.S.
Resting Place:Saint Louis De Gonzague Cemetery
Occupation:Writer
Relatives:Jack Kerouac
Joan Haverty Kerouac

Janet Michelle "Jan" Kerouac (February 16, 1952 – June 5, 1996) was an American writer and the only child of beat generation author Jack Kerouac and Joan Haverty Kerouac.

Early life and career

Janet Michelle Kerouac was born a few months after her parents separated. Jack Kerouac met his daughter for the first time when she was ten years old, when he took a blood test to prove or disprove his paternity. Jan only met him once more, when she visited him at his home in Lowell, Massachusetts.[1]

In 1964, Jan Kerouac was briefly in a girl group called The Whippets.[2] The group, which consisted of Kerouac, Charlotte Rosenthal, and Bibbe Hansen, released one single, "I Want to Talk to You," a song response to the song "I Want to Hold Your Hand." The B-side, "Go Go Go with Ringo," also reflected the Beatlemania of the time. The single did not chart or get much airplay, and the Whippets broke up.[3]

Jan Kerouac lived much of her early life in poverty, sometimes turning to prostitution to survive.[4] She traveled widely, living in South America, Europe, and many different cities in the United States.

Lawsuit

Encouraged by Kerouac biographer Gerald Nicosia, she entered into a lawsuit in the 1990s that proposed the will of Jack's mother, Gabrielle Kerouac, was a forgery, in the hope winning could expand her legal rights to her father's works and physical property. Eventually a court ruled that the will was a forgery, although in practical terms this ruling changed nothing concerning control of the Kerouac estate.[5]

Novels

Kerouac published three semi-autobiographical novels, Baby Driver: A Story About Myself in 1981,[6] [7] Trainsong in 1988 and posthumously published Parrot Fever in 2005.[8]

Death

On June 5, 1996, Kerouac died in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a day after her spleen was removed. She had suffered kidney failure five years earlier and was on dialysis.[9]

Filmography

Bibliography

Books by Kerouac

Books about Kerouac

Further reading

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Viren . Sarah . Writing with Jack Kerouac, Ghost Father . Lit Hub . 20 March 2018 . 16 March 2021.
  2. Web site: Lost in the Grooves: The Secret History of the Whippets, a NYC girl group . Lost in the Grooves . 16 March 2021 . 12 December 2005.
  3. Web site: Bright . Kimberly J. . The Whippets: Beck’s mother and Jack Kerouac’s daughter were in a ‘60s girl group . DangerousMinds.net . 26 January 2013 . 8 June 2024.
  4. Web site: Moore . Judith . Anybody Who Saw Jan Kerouac Knew She Was Jack's Daughter San Diego Reader . San Diego Reader . 26 June 1997 . 16 March 2021 . en . https://web.archive.org/web/20190126033402/https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1997/jun/26/anybody-who-saw-jan-kerouac-knew-she-was-jacks-dau/# . dead . 26 January 2019.
  5. News: The battle for Jack Kerouac's estate. Brown. Mick. 2009-10-28. The Telegraph. 2019-03-06. en-GB. 0307-1235.
  6. Book: Kaufman, Alan. The Outlaw Bible of American Poetry. Thunder's Mouth Press. 1999. 1560252278. 660. She is the author of two novels, Baby Driver and Trainsong, published before her death to wide critical praise.. registration.
  7. Brenda Knight Women of the Beat Generation: The Writers, Artists and Muses at the 1998 1573241385 Two of her autobiographical novels, Baby Driver and Trainsong, are similar to the narrative style that her father employed, but Jan Kerouac seems to be able to detach herself from her circumstances more than her father was able to and writes ...
  8. Book: Beat Culture: Lifestyles, Icons, and Impact . Lawlor . William . . 20 May 2005 . 9781851094059 . 185 . 8 June 2024.
  9. News: Jan Kerouac, 44, the Novelist And Daughter of a Beat Icon. June 8, 1996. The New York Times. April 2, 2010.
  10. Web site: Viren . Sarah . Janet Forman & Regina Weinreich – Beat Generation: An American Dream (ASV #33) . allenginsberg.org . 21 April 2012 . 8 June 2024.
  11. Web site: What Happened to Kerouac? . . 8 June 2024.
  12. Web site: Jan Kerouac: A Life In Memory. October 7, 2009. City Lights Books. EN. 2019-03-06.

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