Jan Kerouac

Janet Michelle "Jan" Kerouac (February 16, 1952 – June 5, 1996) was an American writer and the only child of beat generation author Jack Kerouac and Joan Haverty Kerouac.

Early life and career

Janet Michelle Kerouac was born a few months after her parents separated. Jack Kerouac met his daughter for the first time when she was ten years old, when he took a blood test to prove or disprove his paternity. Jan only met him once more, when she visited him at his home in Lowell, Massachusetts.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In 1964, Jan Kerouac was briefly in a girl group called the Whippets.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The group, which consisted of Kerouac, Charlotte Rosenthal, and Bibbe Hansen, released one single, "I Want to Talk to You," a song response to The Beatles' song "I Want to Hold Your Hand." The B-side, "Go Go Go with Ringo," also reflected the Beatlemania of the time. The single did not chart or get much airplay, and the Whippets broke up.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Jan Kerouac lived much of her early life in poverty, sometimes turning to prostitution to survive.<ref name="Moore1997">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She traveled widely, living in South America, Europe, and many different cities in the United States.<ref name="Moore1997" />

Lawsuit

Encouraged by Kerouac biographer Gerald Nicosia, she entered into a lawsuit in the 1990s that proposed the will of Jack's mother, Gabrielle Kerouac, was a forgery, in the hope winning could expand her legal rights to her father's works and physical property. Eventually a court ruled that the will was a forgery, although in practical terms this ruling changed nothing concerning control of the Kerouac estate.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Novels

Kerouac published three semi-autobiographical novels, Baby Driver: A Story About Myself in 1981,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Brenda Knight Women of the Beat Generation: The Writers, Artists and Muses at the 1998 1573241385 Two of her autobiographical novels, Baby Driver and Trainsong, are similar to the narrative style that her father employed, but Jan Kerouac seems to be able to detach herself from her circumstances more than her father was able to and writes ...</ref> Trainsong in 1988<ref name="Times1996" /> and posthumously published Parrot Fever in 2005.<ref name="Lawlor2005">Template:Cite book</ref>

Death

On June 5, 1996, Kerouac died in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a day after her spleen was removed. She had suffered kidney failure five years earlier and was on dialysis.<ref name="Times1996">Template:Cite news</ref>

Filmography

• The Beat Generation: An American Dream (1988)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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• What Happened to Kerouac? (1986)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

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Bibliography

Books by Kerouac

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• Template:Cite book Written in 1992–1993, and published posthumously.

Books about Kerouac

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Further reading

• Template:Cite news An article published on the 25th anniversary of Jan Kerouac's death.