16
-Jack was born “Jean Louis Kirouac” on March 12, 1922 in Lowell, Massachusetts.
His parents were French-Canadian and natives of Quebec.
He spoke only French until the age of six, when he first learned English.
At the age of four his nine year old brother, Gerard, died from rheumatic fever. The death of his brother profoundly affected Jack. He would later go on to write a novel entitled Visions of Gerard.
Jack was athletic from a young age and when he was in high school he ran the 100-meter hurdles. Jack was also an all-star running back.
Jack’s football skills earned him scholarships from Boston College, Columbia University and Notre Dame.
After attending the Horace Mann School for one year, he matriculated to Columbia University
While at Columbia he argued constantly with his head coach, Lou Little, who benched Jack after he cracked his tibia.
He began writing at Columbia for the Columbia Daily Spectator
Jack dropped out of college after he was benched, due to his fellow students “critical attitude” toward him.
After dropping out he moved to NYC’s UWS (Ozone Park) with his girlfriend Edie Parker.
Upon moving to NYC he met his “beat generation” friends, including Allen Ginsberg
Jack’s apartment in Queens:
Jack eventually left NYC and joined the United States Merchant Marine in 1942.
In 1943 Jack left the Merchant Marine and joined the United States Navy.
During WWII Jack was discharged from the military on psychiatric grounds.
The official diagnosis was “dementia praecox and an indifferent character.”
The Beginning of the End:
On March 30, 1943 Jack went to the Navy infirmary complaining of a headache. He asked for aspirin, but was instead “diagnosed with Dementia Praecox.”
When asked about his adjustment to the military Jack said “I just can’t stand it; I like to be by myself”
The doctor also noted that: Jack was fired from the Merchant Marine for
“bucking everybody” (to oppose authority).His first sexual experience was when he was 14
with a 32 year old woman, which upset Jack to this day.
The doctor noted that Jack smoked a pack and a half a day and was a “spree drinker.”
Jack had a very clean and neat appearance.He was inclined to exaggerate.He was “emotionally not depressed.”Jack “imagines in his mind whole symphonies;
he can hear every note”He can also “see printed pages of words.”He had an excellent memory and held his
attention easily.Jack was not a religious man.Physician notes that Jack “does not like
regulations.”
Quote from Jack: “My diagnosis is dementia praecox, but as far as I’m concerned I am nervous; I get nervous in an emotional way, but I’m not nervous enough to get a discharge. I don’t hear voices talking to me from no where, but I have a photographic picture before my eyes; when I go to sleep and I hear music playing. I know I shouldn’t have told the psychiatrist that, but I wanted to be frank.”
Quote from Jack’s father: “Jack has been boiling for a long time. He has always been reclusive, stubborn, head strong, resentful of authority, unstable, unreliable and undependable.
After 5 weeks of being observed by doctors, Jack was transferred to the United States Naval Hospital in Bethesda, M.D.
Upon transfer to Bethesda, the admission note said that Jack exhibited the following symptoms:
1. Exhibited vague, disconnected thoughts2. Rambled on in a grandiose, philosophical manner3. Displayed auditory hallucinations4. Displayed visual hallucinations5. Made references to suicide6. Generally apathetic and cold
The physicians who admitted Jack at Bethesda noted that he was “very quiet and cooperative and did not display any of the symptoms they had been told to look for.”
Jack was interviewed and said that “He enjoyed being around others, but most times wanted to be by himself.”
Jack told the doctor that he believed his personality changed when he left for Columbia University.
In the interview Jack also told the doctor that, though he had no drug habits, he did go on drinking spree’s “once or twice a year lasting about one week.”
Doctors never noticed hallucinations again (auditory or visual)
He explained to doctors that his “auditory hallucinations” were actually “echoes” from previous conversations that he would remember and then replay in his head.
He would write for 16 hours a day.
Jack was also given a number of psychological tests while at Bethesda. These tests include:Rorschach testWechsler-Bellevue Intelligence Test: I.Q. 128He was underwent an E.E.G Impression, which showed
“transient square-wave discharges from symmetrical frontal regions (Psychomotor Epilepsy)”. Psychomotor epilepsy is also known as “temporal lobe epilepsy” which is epilepsy characterized by partial rather than generalized seizures that typically originate in the temporal lobe and are marked by impairment of consciousness, automatisms, unusual changes in behavior, and hallucinations. Which could account for some of his behavior.
After this, physicians agree to change his original “dementia praecox” diagnosis to “schizoid personality disorder” and he is discharged.
1944: Kerouac is arrested as a material witness in the murder of David Carr. Jack is found to have helped dispose of evidence.
His father refuses to make bail so he promises to marry Edie Parker if she will post bail. They divorce 1 year later.
Moves back in with his parents and writes his most famous novel On the Road.
He becomes a sports reporter for The Lowell Sun, temporarily works in construction, then becomes a waiter, joins the Merchant Marine again and also joins the US Navy twice.
He writes constantly and tears sheets of tracing paper into a 120-foot long roll that he feeds into his typewriter, thus he can type continuously without interruption.
Jack has a hard time finding buyers for his manuscripts because of the content of his stories. He writes graphic descriptions of drug-use, sexual relationships, homosexual behavior and alcohol abuse.
In late 1951, his second wife, Joan, leaves him and gives birth to his only child (Jan Kerouac) though he refuses to acknowledge her until blood tests confirm it nine years later.
After Joan leaves him, he falls into a deep depression and begins to experiment heavily with drugs and alcohol.
In 1969 the “voice of a generation” dies from an internal hemorrhage caused by cirrhosis. This comes from a lifetime of alcohol abuse.
Based on his behavior both in and out of the military, the diagnosis of his military physicians and my own research, I have gone with the diagnosis of “schizoid personality disorder.”
Evidence: Tendency to lead a solitary lifestyle (asocial)Secretive and reclusive (brood for hours on end)Generally apatheticFew close relationships (outside of “Beat Poets”
where he felt comfortable)Indifferent to praise/criticismTook little pleasure in things other than writingIndifferent to social norms and conventions (graphic
writing)Preoccupation with introspection and fantasy
(exaggerated personal life a great deal)
“I saw that my life was a vast glowing empty page and I could do anything I wanted.”
