Jack Kerouac and the Nomadic Cartographies of Exile

Abstract

With the 1950 publication of his first novel, The Town and the City, Jack Kerouac saw a measure of success. Although sales were disappointing, major outlets reviewed the book (Nicosia 300–310, 319), signaling the twenty-seven-year-old writer’s obvious talent.¹ One milieu in which Kerouac’s accomplishment was especially appreciated was the Franco-American or French-Canadian community of New England, in which he had grown up and to which he maintained close ties. Members of this population, who had left Quebec mainly between 1840 and 1930 under severe political, cultural, and economic pressures, were understandably pleased to see the mainstream prominence of “one of their own.” This interest in traditional U.S.-American success was somewhat complicated by the Franco-American community’s strong commitment to survivance, the set of practices designed to maintain cultural identity, especially with regard to the continued use of the French language. Certainly aware of the history and conditions of his home community, Kerouac was thrilled to read Yvonne Le Maître’s review of The Town and the City in the French-language weekly Le Travailleur, published in Worcester, Massachusetts. His reaction to this review, a letter to its author, is a remarkable document for the way it reveals the major role of his relationship to his community in his approach to writing. This role is evident throughout his work—not just in his fictional depictions of French Canadians but also in his consistent fascination with the great variety of cultures in the United States and how they show signs of heterogeneous origins.