Jack Kerouac, Visions of Cody

R. J. Ellis (University of Birmingham)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1972

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Prose Fiction Narrative

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Visions of Cody

is a highly experimental assault on authenticity: Kerouac throughout simultaneously tries to capture authenticity, but also attacks the very idea of authenticity. In trying to create something able to deliver “the complete Cody” to the reader (36), Duluoz (Kerouac) is doomed to fail and the book traces the failure of different attempts to help achieve this aim of delivering Cody (Cassady) completely.

Visions of Cody opens with short descriptions of the sights and smells of the post-war American urban experience. Basic bodily needs and functions are depicted, and the focus falls on food-joints, railway stations and other glimpses of the city. Evocative, hungry descriptions of food add to the general sense of poverty pervading these opening pages: Visions recurrently

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1281 words

Citation: Ellis, R. J.. "Visions of Cody". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 April 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=21643, accessed 23 November 2024.]

Jack Kerouac, Visions of Cody

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