Monday, June 18, 2007
Pathetic Attempt To Recapture the Spirit of Jack Kerouac Lands Aging Reporter in Memphis
Posted by John Branston on Mon, Jun 18, 2007 at 4:00 AM
The assignment: send USA Today's Jerry Shriver in a car across America's heartland. The occasion: the publication 50 years ago of Jack Kerouac's On the Road. Result: When it comes to Memphis, Shriver can't leave the city fast enough.
"Normally, I crave Memphis' rough charms," Shriver writes. "But two days in a lousy hotel and newspapers filled with stories of a murderous preacher's wife put me in a foul mood that I can't shake. Where is that joyous jolt I used to get from my now-raggedy paperback [of On the Road]? "Why do the pathetic parts seem so much more prominent than when I read the book in my 20s? Perhaps I've seen too much of a country grown stale. I'm relieved to say goodbye and head to Nashville, the end of my road."
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