Typed Letter Signed

by KEROUAC, Jack

Price: $8,500.00

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Description

1956. December 1956. A full page love letter to Helen Weaver ("Sweetheart"), mailed on New Year's Eve. A passionate letter, written just before On the Road was published and while Kerouac still had the innocence and charm of a struggling writer, unencumbered by the celebrity that dogged him in later years. Much of the letter is personal, professing his love and desire to reunite with his girlfriend -- in writing that has the rhythm and lyricism of his novels, as well as the free flowing associations and lofty allusions: "I will lead schools, be exiled, scoffed at, I prophesy it, and I will lead schools...But it's only the golden eternity...eternal peace...and we're just passing through..." A portion of the letter refers to the business of writing in which he is engaged: "I have another week here, of mad typing and working on FOUR different manuscripts, that'll make us rich...Then I take the West Coast champion train, if my agent comes through with the return fare, and be right back, to your door, on Tuesday the 8th...If I dont get drunk and flub up..." Signed, "Jean (qui t'aime XXXXX)." Previously folded in sixths for mailing and splitting at the corner folds; paper acidifying; else near fine. With typed mailing envelope, postmarked Orlando, Florida. A remarkable letter, with Kerouac's characteristic, and unmistakable, prose. .