| Maggie Cassidy | |
| Author: | Jack Kerouac |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Publisher: | Avon |
| Release Date: | 1959 |
| Media Type: | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages: | 208 pp |
| Preceded By: | Doctor Sax (1959) |
| Followed By: | Tristessa (1960) |
Maggie Cassidy is a novel by the American writer Jack Kerouac, first published in 1959. It is a largely autobiographical work about Kerouac's early life in Lowell, Massachusetts, from 1938 to 1939, and chronicles his real-life relationship with his teenage sweetheart Mary Carney. It is unique for Kerouac for its high school setting and teenage characters. He wrote the novel in 1953 but it was not published until 1959, after the success of On the Road (1957).
The original manuscript published by Avon Books in 1959 was almost immediately pulled from the shelves due to objections over profanity in one particular passage. The passage was rewritten and the book redistributed even though Kerouac reportedly objected to the changes . The original manuscript remained unpublished until 2015 when Devault-Graves Digital Editions restored the full uncut original manuscript for its print edition .
Part of what Kerouac considered the 'Duluoz Legend',[1] Maggie Cassidy tells the tale of Jack Duluoz and his romantic involvement with Irish-American Maggie Cassidy. Duluoz is a high school athletics and football star who meets Maggie Cassidy and begins a devoted, inconstant, tender adolescent love affair.[2]
Kerouac often based his fictional characters on friends and family.[3] [4]
| Real-life person | Character name | |
|---|---|---|
| Jack Kerouac | Jack Duluoz | |
| Leo Kerouac | Emil "Pop" Duluoz | |
| Caroline Kerouac | Nin / Jeannette Bissonette | |
| George "G.J." Apostolos | G.J. Rigopoulos | |
| Fred Bertrand | Vinny Bergerac | |
| Mary Carney | Maggie Cassidy | |
| Margaret "Peggy" Coffey | Pauline "Moe" Cole | |
| Johnny Koumentzalis | Johnny Kazarakis | |
| Lou Little | Lu Libble | |
| Charles Morissette | Jimmy Bissonette | |
| Robert Morissette | Joe (Iddyboy) Bissonette | |
| Omar Noel | Zaza Vauriselle | |
| Jim O'Dea | Timmy Clancy | |
| Roland Salvas | Albert "Lousy" Lauzon | |
| Charles Sampas | James G. Santos | |
| Jimmy Winchell | Eddy Gilbert | |
| Seymour Wyse | Lionel Smart |