Jack Kerouac on a U.S. Stamp?

Travel Blog  •  Michael Yessis  •  03.12.06 | 1:50 PM ET

Today, on what would be the On the Road author’s 88th 84th birthday*, the Boston Globe’s Douglas Belkin examines the “13-year crusade to honor Kerouac” by several fans. The main supporter, Belkin writes, is Dean Contover, who says he played a game of pool with Kerouac in 1968 and has been “reading and rereading” his work ever since.

Belkin writes:

The time for a second push is now, Contover believes. The 120-foot-long scroll on which ‘‘On the Road”—Kerouac’s defining work—was written is on a national tour, drawing tens of thousands of visitors.

And Kerouac’s “first thought, best thought” style of spontaneous prose is enjoying a resurgence in popularity among a generation raised on instant messaging and e-mail.

That said, Contover’s campaign has failed to ignite the sort of grass-roots populism Contover believes is necessary to get the Postal Service to act.

Contover has written scores of letters and has accumulated a thick, three-ring binder of supportive responses from the likes of Senator Edward M. Kennedy, Congressman Martin Meehan, and the late comedian Steve Allen—who interviewed Kerouac on his TV show.

But the people who really matter, the ones on the Postal Service Stamp Advisory Committee, have so far given Kerouac short shrift.

“I would just say this: When it comes to stamps, patience is virtue,” said Ron Robinson, chairman of the committee.

Mark Twain, William Faulkner, Dorothy Parker, Langston Hughes, and Jack London are among the American writers already honored with stamps. Why not Kerouac? Count us as supporters. 

(*Editor’s note: Thanks to reader JB for pointing out the Globe’s bad math.)

 

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2 Comments for Jack Kerouac on a U.S. Stamp?

Jb 03.12.06 | 3:53 PM ET

It would have been his 84th birthday.

Jim 03.12.06 | 4:10 PM ET

Good call, JB.

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