Atop an Underwood

Early Stories and Other Writings

By: Jack Kerouac, Paul Marion - editor introduction

Narrated by: Andrew Eiden, Bronson Pinchot

Before Jack Kerouac expressed the spirit of a generation in his 1957 classic On the Road, he spent years figuring out how he wanted to live and, above all, learning how to write.

Atop an Underwood brings together more than sixty previously unpublished works that Kerouac wrote before he was twenty-two, ranging from stories and poems to plays and parts of novels, including an excerpt from his 1943 merchant marine novel, The Sea Is My Brother. These writings reveal what Kerouac was thinking, doing, and dreaming during his formative years and reflect his primary literary influences. Listeners will also find in these works the source of Kerouac’s spontaneous prose style.

Uncovering a fascinating missing link in Kerouac’s development as a writer, Atop an Underwood is essential listening for Kerouac fans, scholars, and critics.

©1999 Estate of Stella Kerouac, John Sampas. Introduction and commentary copyright © 1999 by Paul Marion (P)2024 Blackstone Publishing