Critical Thinking Blog #11

Hmm, I'm not entirely sure if there is prompt for this week or not, so I suppose I will just ramble a bit about Kerouac. I have always struggled with Kerouac's writing and subject manner. At times, I think he is sheer brilliance and others I am just bored and his loose, stream of conscious style becomes unappealing. Kerouac's hedonistic lifestyle easily lends itself toward a compelling, albeit plot less, narrative. In rereading this section Big Sur, the nonchanlantness of Kerouac's depictions jumped out at me. When he describes the setting around him at Big Sur there is an effortless and natural quality to it and the depiction of his dinner of spaghetti with tomato sauce, apple relishe, and oil and vinegar salad seems necessary, despite its tendency toward minutia. With Ginsberg, on the hand, I relish in his structure. While he also exhibits this effortlessness and free flowing writing, it is through his structure that this accomplished. There is ease in his poetry through the syntax and flow that makes it honest and compelling. Ginsberg was obviously influenced by Walt Whitman, and was able to break down Whitman's structure and openness into his own subject matter to create powerful and thought-provoking works, such as Howl.