Details

ISBN-10: 0141001879
ISBN-13: 9780141001876
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publish Date: 06/01/2001
Dimensions: 7.74" L, 5.07" W, 0.62" H

Door Wide Open: A Beat Love Affair in Letters, 1957-1958

Introduction by: Joyce Johnson

Paperback

Price: $24.00

Overview

On a blind date in Greenwich Village set up by Allen Ginsberg, Joyce Johnson (then Joyce Glassman) met Jack Kerouac in January 1957, nine months before he became famous overnight with the publication of On the Road. She was an adventurous, independent-minded twenty-one-year-old; Kerouac was already running on empty at thirty-five. This unique book, containing the many letters the two of them wrote to each other, reveals a surprisingly tender side of Kerouac. It also shares the vivid and unusual perspective of what it meant to be young, Beat, and a woman in the Cold War fifties. Reflecting on those tumultuous years, Johnson seamlessly interweaves letters and commentary, bringing to life her love affair with one of American letters’ most fascinating and enigmatic figures.

Read More
Reviews
Wonderful...conveys Johnson's own growth as a woman and writer in the 1950s, absorbing Kerouac's remarkable freedom. —The New York Times Book Review
More Reviews

Details

ISBN-10: 0141001879
ISBN-13: 9780141001876
Publisher: Penguin Publishing Group
Publish Date: 06/01/2001
Dimensions: 7.74" L, 5.07" W, 0.62" H
Skip to content