Go

Before the world knew Kerouac, Ginsberg, and Cassady, this "brilliant and important" novel chronicled the author's early years among the Beats (Los Angeles Free Press). Published five years before On the Road, this candid and perceptive roman à clef chronicles the adventures of Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Neal Cassady before they became literary icons. In dive bars and all-night diners, cabs racing across Manhattan and squalid apartments sticky with "tea" smoke, these would-be artists pursue the ecstatic experiences that shape their work and satisfy their restless desire to live beyond the limits of convention. At the heart of Go is Paul Hobbes, the alter ego of John Clellon Holmes. An aspiring novelist who shares the same creative interests as his friends, Paul frequently participates in their reckless, self-indulgent behavior. Yet his innate solemnness makes him an outsider, as does his commitment to his marriage. As Paul seeks to strike the right balance between experimentation and orthodoxy, freedom and obligation, he casts a discerning eye on his peers. The result is a thrilling and indispensible portrait of the Beat movement before it took America by storm.

About the Author :
John Clellon Holmes (1926-1988) was an American novelist, essayist, and poet. He is best remembered for Go (1952), a roman à clef chronicling his experiences with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and Neal Cassady in New York City in the 1940s. Published five years before On the Road and distinguished by its emotional honesty, its meticulous attention to detail, and its lyrical evocation of the restlessness that defined post-World War II Manhattan, Go is widely considered to be the first Beat novel and one of the finest. Kerouac coined the term "beat generation" in a conversation with Holmes, who in turn introduced it to the world in a seminal article published in the November 16, 1952 issue of the New York Times Magazine: "This Is the Beat Generation." Holmes's other works include the novels Get Home Free (1964) and The Horn (1953), the latter of which was declared by the San Francisco Chronicle to be "the most successful novel about jazz that has ever been published;" the poetry volumes Dire Coasts (1988) and Night Music (1989); and Nothing More to Declare (1967), a collection of essays.

Review :
"The first . . . and still one of the best novels about the Beat Generation . . . Brilliant and important." --Los Angeles Free Press "Now I want to write to you about the Beat Generation or simply the Beat Ones--your book. You did the honest thing, the big thing, the good thing." --Jack Kerouac "John Clellon Holmes became the Beat Generation's chief chronicler." --Newsweek "Here is the original scribe, the first scribe, of the Beat Generation." --Seymour Krim "Go signaled the start of something new in American literature. A generation with a new consciousness had found its voice, and that's always news." --Ann Charters "The start of the Beat movement." --TheVillage Voice "Years before the beats became the Beat Generation, John Clellon Holmes charted in Go their manic exploration of the unconscious, their quest for significance, their glorification of crime." --James Atlas