On The Road - The Original Scroll

The two main characters of the book are the narrator, Salvatore "Sal" Paradise, and his new friend Dean Moriarty, much admired for his carefree attitude and sense for adventure, a free-spirited maverick eager to explore all kicks and an inspiration and catalyst for Sal's travels. The novel contains five parts, three of them describing road trips with Moriarty. The narrative takes place in the years 1947 to 1950, is full of Americana, and marks a specific era in jazz history, "somewhere between its Charlie Parker Ornithology period and another period that began with Miles Davis." The novel is largely autobiographical, Sal being the alter ego of the author and Dean standing for Neal Cassady. The epic nature of the adventures and the text itself creates a tremendous sense of meaning and purpose for the themes and lessons.

Cast

Jack Kerouac (Author), John Ventimiglia (Narrator)

General
Format: MPEG-4
Format profile: Apple audio with iTunes info
Codec ID: M4A
File size: 61.0 MiB
Duration: 1h 17mn
Overall bit rate mode: Variable
Overall bit rate: 111 Kbps
Album: On The Road - The Original Scroll
Part/Position: 1
Part/Total: 10
Track name: On The Road - The Original Scroll - Part I
Track name/Position: 1
Track name/Total: 10
Compilation: Yes
Performer: Jack Kerouac
Genre: Audiobook
Encoded date: UTC 2010-10-04 19:56:59
Tagged date: UTC 2010-10-04 21:00:37
Writing application: iTunes 10.0.0.68, QuickTime 7.6.8
Cover: Yes
Encoding Params: (Binary)

Audio
ID: 1
Format: AAC
Format/Info: Advanced Audio Codec
Format profile: LC
Codec ID: 40
Duration: 1h 17mn
Bit rate mode: Variable
Bit rate: 109 Kbps
Nominal bit rate: 128 Kbps
Maximum bit rate: 148 Kbps
Channel(s): 2 channels
Channel positions: Front: L R
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Compression mode: Lossy
Stream size: 60.1 MiB (98%)
Encoded date: UTC 2010-10-04 19:56:59
Tagged date: UTC 2010-10-04 21:00:37



Editorial Reviews
Here is the legendary 1951 "scroll" draft of On the Road, word for word as Jack Kerouac originally composed it

Though Kerouac began thinking about the novel that was to become On the Road as early as 1947, it was not until three weeks in April 1951, in an apartment on West 20th Street in Manhattan, that he wrote the first full draft that was satisfactory to him. Typed out as one long, single-spaced paragraph on eight long sheets of tracing paper that he later taped together to form a 120-foot scroll, this document is among the most significant, celebrated, and provocative artifacts in contemporary American literary history. It represents the first full expression of Kerouac's revolutionary aesthetic, the identifiable point at which his thematic vision and narrative voice came together in a sustained burst of creative energy

It was not until more than six years later, and after several new drafts, that Viking published, in 1957, the novel known to us today. The differences between the two versions are principally ones of significant detail and altered emphasis. The scroll is slightly longer and has a heightened linguistic virtuosity and a more sexually frenetic tone. It also uses the real names of Kerouac's friends instead of the fictional names he later invented for them

This audio edition is narrated by actor John Ventimiglia, best known for his portrayal of restaurant owner Artie Bucco in The Sopranos.