On the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, written in April 1951, and published by Viking Press in 1957. It is a largely autobiographical work based on the spontaneous cross-country adventures of Kerouac and his friends during the middle of the 20th century. It is often considered a defining work of the postwar Beat Generation that was inspired by jazz, poetry, and drug experiences. While many of the names and details of Kerouac's experiences are changed for the novel, hundreds of references in On the Road have real-world counterparts.

When the book was originally released, The New York Times hailed it as "the most beautifully executed, the clearest and the most important utterance yet made by the generation Kerouac himself named years ago as "beat," and whose principal avatar he is."^[1] In 1998, the Modern Library ranked On the Road 55th on its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. The novel was chosen by Time magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.^[2]

Origins[link]

Many aspects go in to understanding the context of On the Road, and they must be viewed cohesively in order to appreciate why the book was as relevant and pertinent as it was. The following issues are important to consider as the foundation for the book and its reception by the public.

Kerouac biography[link]

Much of the story of On the Road is autobiographical. Kerouac took events from his life and turned them into the novel. Readers can see how he weaves personal influences and background into the text.

Kerouac was born in a French-Canadian neighborhood of Lowell, MA. He grew up in a devout Catholic home, and this influence manifested itself throughout the work. During high school, Kerouac was a star football player and earned a scholarship to Columbia University. After dropping out following a conflict with the football coach and then serving on several different sailing vessels, he returned to New York in search of inspiration to write. Here he met the likes of Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs who would not only become the characters in the book but also form the core of the Beat Generation.^[3]

Many of the events depicted in the book are the experiences that shaped both its content and production. Kerouac met Neal Cassady, who would become Dean Moriarty, in December 1946 and began his road adventures in 1947 while writing what would become The Town and the City. The adventures themselves, which took place between 1947 and 1950, were meant to help him overcome writers block during early attempts to write the book. It was through letters and other interactions with his friends that Kerouac decided to write the first person narrative that became On the Road as we know it today.^[3]

The publication process was another adventure unto itself, which took a major psychological toll on Kerouac. He was discouraged by the struggle (even though he continued to write during the period) and finally agreed to substantially revise the original version after years of failed negotiations with different publishers. He removed several parts in order to focus the story and also to protect himself from potential issues of libel. He also continued to write feverishly after its publication in spite of attacks from critics.^[3]

Historical context[link]

On the Road portrays the story of a fierce personal quest for meaning and belonging. This comes at an interesting point in American history when conformity was praised and outsiders were suspect. The Beat Generation arose out of a time of intense conflict, both internally and externally.

The issues of the Cold War, the Second Red Scare and McCarthyism took center stage of the cultural arena in the 1950s. As Americans bunkered down against communism at home and abroad, the sentiment of unifying and banding together led to extreme measures of censorship and control.

The Cold War was the backdrop for this fight. In a short time after defeating Germany, the Soviet Union fell from ally to threat in the eyes of the United States. In the postwar reconstruction process, the two powers found themselves continually at odds. The sentiment arose clearly as a struggle between two opposing ways of life. Contention over support for alleged communist revolution in Iran then Turkey and Greece led to the American policy of containment and the Truman Doctrine. Before a joint session of Congress on March 12, 1947, President Harry S. Truman stated, “I believe it must be the policy of the United States to support the people who are resisting attempted subjugation by armed minorities or by outside pressures.”^[4] That summer, Secretary of State George C. Marshall proposed a plan for the economic reconstruction of Europe that would further entrench the division. While Western European countries planned how to go about rebuilding with American help, the Soviets walked away and encouraged the Eastern European countries to do the same. A Soviet aid and recovering plan followed for these countries and would mark the beginning of a punch and counterpunch pattern that would typify the early years of the Cold War. This laid a foundation for the tension that would define the period.^[4]

During this time, the Second Red Scare and fear of McCarthyism brought the culture of fear into the homes of average Americans. The House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC), founded in 1938 by Congressman Martin Dies (D-TX), supported an attack on Hollywood professionals that resulted in a blacklist of writers, actors, and directors. The impact of the hearings, however, spread beyond Hollywood, and contributed to the sense of paranoia that paralyzed America in the 1950s. Senator Joseph McCarthy (D-WI) added to this fervor when he began his crusade against communists he claimed had infiltrated the federal government. Starting with the State Department until allegations he made against military members brought him down, McCarthy used extreme tactics of argument to discredit professional and ruin careers. This only extended the present culture of fear and reinforced the importance of conformity.^[4]

Beat Generation summary[link]

It was in this climate that the young generation was seeking meaning. Amidst all the conflict and contradiction, the Beats were seeking out a way to navigate through the world. As John Clellon Holmes put it, “Everywhere the Beat Generation seems occupied with the feverish production of answers—some of them frightening, some of them foolish—to a single question: how are we to live?”^[5]

The idea of what it means to be “beat” is still difficult to accurately describe. While many critics still consider the word “beat” in its literal sense of “tired and beaten down,” others, including Kerouac himself promoted the generation more in sense of “beatific” or blissful.^[6]

Holmes and Kerouac published several articles in popular magazines in an attempt to explain the movement. In the November 16, 1952 New York Times Sunday Magazine, he wrote a piece exposing the faces of the Beat Generation. “[O]ne day [Kerouac] said, ‘You know, this is a really beat generation’ ... More than mere weariness, it implies the feeling of having been used, of being raw. It involves a sort of nakedness of mind, and ultimately, of soul: a feeling of being reduced to the bedrock of consciousness. In short, it means being undramatically pushed up against the wall of oneself.”^[7] He distinguishes Beats from the Lost Generation of the 1920s pointing out how the Beats are not lost but how they are searching for answers to all of life’s questions. “How to live seems much more crucial than why.”^[7] In many ways, it is a spiritual journey, a quest to find belief, belonging, and meaning in life. Not content with the uniformity promoted by government and consumer culture, the Beats yearned for a deeper, more sensational experience.

Holmes expands his attempt to define the generation in a 1958 article in ''Esquire'' magazine. This article was able to take more of a look back at the formation of the movement as it was published after On the Road. “It describes the state of mind from which all unessentials have been stripped, leaving it receptive to everything around it, but impatient with trivial obstructions. To be beat is to be at the bottom of your personality, looking up.”^[5]

Literary context[link]

At the time of publication, On the Road was not the first book to criticize contemporary American culture. A nonconformist sentiment characterized the arts and popular culture of the 1950s as a way of rejecting societal norms. Many of the best selling books of the time achieved this same mission.^[4]

J. D. Salinger produced the first shock to the tranquil suburban landscape with the publication of The Catcher in the Rye in 1951. His protagonist Holden Caufield struck a chord with young readers also at odds with the adult world. Caufield’s rejection of the regimentation and “phoniness” of the world around him resonated with the struggle for meaning that drove the Beat Generation. Salinger’s rejection of traditional middle-class values signaled the first widely recognized public stand against the cultural conformist pressure.^[4]

Among the best-selling novels of 1950’s was Peyton Place by Grace Metalious. Published in September 1956, it managed to be the second most sold book in the country that year and then to top the chart in 1957. In fact, it went on to be the best-selling book in American history up to that point.^[8] Often cited as the prime example of the decline in American culture of the decade, the novel examines the traditional values of a New England mill town by introducing the complications of extramarital sexual affairs. A book that received a broad range of reviews after publication, Peyton Place’s popularity shows that popular culture was ready for a break from their traditional expectations.^[8]

Another popular contemporary was Sloan Wilson’s The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit (1955) that dealt with the increasing suburbanization of American society. Tom Rath struggles with the dilemma of following his conscience or pursuing the big salary and lush lifestyle typically portrayed of the 1950’s family. In the end, though, he discovers that he can have both. While Wilson can be seen as chastising the societal norms at times, he concludes with his character achieving them. This shows the dichotomy of attitudes toward the middle-class values of the day.^[9]

Production and publication[link]

The scroll, exhibited at the Boott Cotton Mills Museum in Lowell, Massachusetts, summer 2007

Kerouac often promoted the story about how in April 1951 he wrote the novel in three weeks, typing continuously onto a 120-foot roll of teletype paper.^[10] Although the story is true per se, the book was in fact the result of a long and arduous creative process. Kerouac carried small notebooks, in which much of the text was written as the eventful span of road trips unfurled. He started working on the first of several versions of the novel as early as 1948, based on experiences during his first long road trip in 1947. However, he remained dissatisfied with the novel.^[11] Inspired by a thousand-word rambling letter from his friend Neal Cassady, Kerouac in 1950 outlined the "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose" and decided to tell the story of his years on the road with Cassady as if writing a letter to a friend in a form that reflected the improvisational fluidity of jazz.^[12]

The first draft of what was to become the published novel was written in three weeks in April 1951 while Kerouac lived with Joan Haverty, his second wife, at 454 West 20th Street in Manhattan, New York. The manuscript was typed on what he called "the scroll":^[13] a continuous, one hundred and twenty-foot scroll of tracing paper sheets that he cut to size and taped together. The roll was typed single-spaced, without margins or paragraph breaks. In the following years, Kerouac continued to revise this manuscript, deleting some sections (including some sexual depictions deemed pornographic in the 1950s) and adding smaller literary passages.^[14] Kerouac authored a number of inserts intended for On the Road between 1951 and 1952, before eventually omitting them from the manuscript and using them to form the basis of another work, Visions of Cody.^[15] On the Road was championed within Viking Press by Malcolm Cowley and was published by Viking in 1957, based on revisions of the 1951 manuscript.^[16] Besides differences in formatting, the published novel was shorter than the original scroll manuscript and used pseudonyms for all of the major characters.

Viking Press released a slightly edited version of the original manuscript on 16 August 2007 titled On the Road: The Original Scroll corresponding with the 50th anniversary of original publication. This version has been transcribed and edited by English academic and novelist Dr. Howard Cunnell. As well as containing material that was excised from the original draft due to its explicit nature, the scroll version also uses the real names of the protagonists, so Dean Moriarty becomes Neal Cassady and Carlo Marx becomes Allen Ginsberg etc.^[17]

In 2007, Gabriel Anctil, a journalist of the Montreal's daily Le Devoir discovered, in Kerouac's personal archives in New York, almost 200 pages of his writings entirely in Quebec French, with colloquialisms. The collection included ten manuscript pages of an unfinished version of On the Road, written on January 19, 1951. The date of the writings makes Kerouac one of the earliest known authors to use colloquial Quebec French in literature.^[18]

Plot summary[link]

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. 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. Kerouac provides not only the story of a literal journey but also that of an intense internal quest and a pursuit of freedom and self-determination.

Part One[link]

The first section describes Sal’s first trip to San Francisco, CA. Disheartened after a divorce, his life changes when he meets Dean Moriarty, who is "tremendously excited with life," and begins to long for the freedom of the road: ”Somewhere along the line I knew there would be girls, visions, everything; somewhere along the line the pearl would be handed to me.” He sets off in July 1947 with fifty dollars in his pocket. After taking several buses and hitchhiking, he arrives in Denver, where he hooks up with Carlo Marx, Dean, and their friends. There are parties — among them an excursion to the ghost town of Central City. Eventually Sal leaves by bus and gets to San Francisco, where he meets Remi Boncoeur and his girlfriend Lee Ann. Remi arranges for Sal to take a job as a night watchman at a boarding camp for merchant sailors waiting for their ship. Not holding this job for long, Sal hits the road again. “Oh, where is the girl I love?” he wonders. Soon he meets Terry, the “cutest little Mexican girl,” on the bus to Los Angeles. They stay together, traveling back to Bakersfield, then to Sabinal, “her hometown,” where her family works in the fields. He meets Terry's brother Ricky, who teaches him the true meaning of "mañana." Working in the cotton fields, Sal realizes that he is not made for this type of work. Leaving Terry behind, he takes the bus back to New York and walks the final stretch from Times Square to Paterson, just missing Dean, who had come to see him, by two days.

In this section, Kerouac not only introduces many of the books characters but also its central conflicts and dilemmas. He initially shows Sal as the deep thinking writer who yearns for greater freedom. As the plot unfolds he shows the depth and degree of Sal’s internal conflict in the pursuit of “kicks,” torn between the romanticized freedom of the open road and practicality of a more settled, domestic life. Dean appears as the “yellow roman candle” that catalyzes the action of the novel. His uncontainable spirit invites Sal to follow but also foreshadows problems of commitment and devotion that will reappear later on.

Part Two[link]

In December 1948 Sal is celebrating Christmas with his relatives in Testament, VA when Dean shows up with Marylou (having left his second wife, Camille, and their newborn baby, Amy, in San Francisco) and Ed Dunkel. Sal’s Christmas plans are shattered as “now the bug was on me again, and the bug’s name was Dean Moriarty.” First they drive to New York, where they meet Carlo and party. Dean wants Sal to make love to Marylou, but Sal declines. In Dean’s Hudson they take off from New York in January 1949 and make it to New Orleans. In Algiers they stay with the morphine-addicted Old Bull Lee and his wife Jane. Galatea Dunkel joins her husband in New Orleans while Sal, Dean, and Marylou continue their trip. Once in San Francisco, Dean again leaves Marylou to be with Camille. “Dean will leave you out in the cold anytime it is in the interest of him” Marylou tells Sal. Both of them stay briefly in a hotel, but soon she moves out, following a nightclub owner. Sal is alone and on Market Street has visions of past lives, birth, and rebirth. Dean finds him and invites him to stay with his family. Together, they visit nightclubs and listen to Slim Gaillard and other jazz musicians. The stay ends on a sour note: "what I accomplished by coming to Frisco I don’t know,” and Sal departs, taking the bus back to New York.

In this section, Marylou sums up the dilemma of Dean’s lack of commitment and selfishness when she says that he will always leave you if it isn’t in his interest. This central conflict appears again after Dean returns to Camille in San Francisco, abandoning his two travel companions. Sal again finds himself at a loss for purpose and direction. He has spent his time following the other characters but is unfulfilled by the frantic nature of this life. Much of the euphoria has worn off as he becomes more contemplative and philosophical.

Part Three[link]

In the spring of 1949, Sal takes a bus from New York to Denver. He is depressed and “lonesome”; none of his friends are around. After receiving some money, he leaves Denver for San Francisco to see Dean. Camille is pregnant and unhappy, and Dean has injured his thumb trying to hit Marylou for sleeping with other men. Camille throws them out, and Sal invites Dean to come to New York, planning to travel further to Italy. They meet Galatea, who tells Dean off: ”You have absolutely no regard for anybody but yourself and your kicks.” Sal realizes she is right — Dean is the “HOLY GOOF” — but also defends him, as “he’s got the secret that we’re all busting to find out.” After a night of jazz and drinking in Little Harlem on Folsom Street, they depart. On the way to Sacramento they meet a "fag," who propositions them. Deans tries to hustle some money out of this but is turned down. During this part of the trip Sal and Dean have ecstatic discussions having found “IT” and “TIME." In Denver a brief argument shows the growing rift between the two, when Dean reminds Sal of his age, Sal being the older of the two. They get a '47 Cadillac from the travel bureau that needs to be brought to Chicago. Dean drives most of the way, crazy, careless, often speeding over 100 miles per hour, bringing it in in a disheveled state. By bus they move on to Detroit and spend a night on Skid Row, Dean hoping to find his hobo father. From Detroit they share a ride to New York and arrive at Sal's aunt’s new flat in Long Island. They go on partying in New York, where Dean meets Inez and gets her pregnant while his wife is expecting their second child.

After seeing how he treats Camille and Marylou, Sal finally begins to realize the nature of his relationship with Dean. While he cares greatly about him, several times discussing future plans to live on the same street, he recognizes that the feeling may not be mutual. The situations are beginning to change, though, as Sal has received some money from his recently published book and can begin to support himself and also Dean when he comes to New York. Sal is taking a more active role in his freedom as opposed to just following Dean.

Part Four[link]

In the spring of 1950, Sal gets the itch to travel again while Dean is working as a parking lot attendant in Manhattan, living with his girlfriend Inez. Sal notices that he has been reduced to simple pleasures — listening to baseball games and doing card tricks. By bus Sal takes to the road again, passing Washington, Ashland, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and eventually reaching Denver. There he meets Stan Shephard, and the two plan to go to Mexico City when they learn that Dean had bought a car and is on the way to join them. In a rickety '37 Ford sedan the three set off across Texas to Laredo, where they cross the border. They are ecstatic, having left “everything behind us and entering a new and unknown phase of things.” Their money buys more (10 cents for a beer), police are laid back, cannabis is readily available, and people are curious and friendly. The landscape is magnificent. In Gregoria, they meet Victor, a local kid, who leads them to a bordello where they have their last grand party, dancing to mambo, drinking, and having fun with underage prostitutes. In Mexico City Sal becomes ill from dysentery and is “delirious and unconscious.” Dean leaves him, and Sal later reflects that “when I got better I realized what a rat he was, but then I had to understand the impossible complexity of his life, how he had to leave me there, sick, to get on with his wives and woes.”

In this section we see Dean’s selfishness finally extend to Sal, as he leaves Sal abandoned in Mexico City. Sal has sunk to the bottom of his reality having seen Victor put his family obligations over the freedom of the road and Dean was not ready to do the same thing. This is the moment where the paths diverge and Sal realizes that he has more to live for than just constantly moving.

Part Five[link]

Dean, having obtained divorce papers in Mexico, had first returned to New York to marry Inez, only to leave her and go back to Camille. After his recovery, Sal returns to New York in the fall. He finds a girl, Laura, and plans to move with her to San Francisco. Dean arrives to pick them up, but while Sal is taking a walk, he and Laura are left together. Sal realizes that it is all over. Dean heads back to Camille and Sal denies him a final ride. All that remains for Sal is the memory: he reflects on the images of the road and closes “. . . I think of Dean Moriarty, I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found, I think of Dean Moriarty."

The book concludes with the image of Sal moving on with his life and Dean refusing to change. Dean still cannot bring himself to be contained by not only a women but responsibility in general whereas Sal, who has seen and experienced his freedom, decides to value commitment and stability with Laura.

Character key[link]

"Because of the objections of my early publishers I was not allowed to use the same person's name in each work."^[19]

The following is a list characters from On the Road and the actual people who they represent.

Major themes[link]

The main ideas of the Beat Generation, the longing for belief and meaning in life, are beautifully^{[peacock term]} reflected in On the Road. While interest in the book initially revolved more around Kerouac’s personal life rather than the literary nature of the text, critical attention has burgeoned in recent years. Although the book can be viewed through many lenses, several major themes rise up from a deeper study.

Kerouac has admitted that the biggest of these themes is religion. In a letter to a student in 1961, he wrote, “Dean and I were embarked on a journey through post-Whitman America to FIND that America and to FIND the inherent goodness in American man. It was really a story about 2 Catholic buddies roaming the country in search of God. And we found him.”^[21] This idea of an inward adventure is illustrated in all of the experimentation. The Beats had a more liberal definition of God and spirituality closely related to personal experience.

All of the travel and personal interaction in the book permit an examination of the ideas of masculinity and mobility in the 1950s. While these concepts may seem unrelated, Kerouac weaves them together to provide another form of rebellion against the social norm of conformity. Mary Pannicia Carden examines this and proposes that traveling was a way for the characters to assert their independence. “[Sal and Dean] attempt to replace the model of manhood dominant in capitalist America with a model rooted in foundational American ideals of conquest and self-discovery.”^[22] Travel is a very symbolic act both in history and in literature of coming of age and self-realization, especially for males. But not only do they see conformity as restricting, but in many senses, they view women this way as well. “Reassigning disempowering elements of patriarchy to female keeping, they attempt to substitute male brotherhood for the nuclear family and to replace the ladder of success with the freedom of the road as primary measures of male identity.”^[22] The interactions of the book come down to balances of power and gains and losses of masculinity. Even though they seek to defy its traditional markers, Dean and Sal also rely on this masculinity in their self-definition. In the end, their divergence to different paths reflects Sal’s understanding of the limitations of complete freedom that is sought on the road in so far as it pertains to relations to culture and identity.

In a broader sense, On the Road’s major lesson is about the proper way of growing up. Unlike Holden Caufield, Sal Paradise is struggling with getting through adolescence and maturity rather than delaying it. We see this contrasted with Dean Moriarty who is portrayed as the depiction of a child, always on the move. Sal’s struggle is how to balance these opposing forces. We saw these exact issues in Holmes’s definition of the Beat Generation as a whole, of which Sal Paradise becomes the metaphorical face.

Language[link]

In addition to the themes and controversial topics addressed in On the Road, Kerouac’s apparently erratic writing style garnered much attention for the novel. While some viewed it as amateur and illegitimate others have hailed it as a creative breakthrough. Still others have gone a step further to say that On the Road was merely a transitional phase in between the traditional narrative structure of The Town and the City (1951) and the so-called “wild form” of Kerouac’s later books like Visions of Cody (1972).^[23]

Kerouac’s own explanation of his style begins with the publication of “Essentials of Spontaneous Prose” (1953) in which he outlines the core features of his techniques. He likens his writing to Impressionist painters who sought to create art through direct observation. He endeavored to present as raw of version of truth as possible which did not lend itself to the traditional process of revision and rewriting but rather the emotionally charged practice of spontaneity he pursued.^[24]

This spontaneity produced a book that was not only readable in 1957 but still captures the attention of audiences today. The personal nature of the text helps foster a direct link between Kerouac and each individual readers. Because he is writing about actual experiences, conveying appropriately the environment provided this connection. Kerouac chose to do this through his detailed descriptions, rarely pausing for a breath between sentences. His more casual diction and very relaxed syntax, although viewed as less than serious by some, was an intentional attempt to depict events as they happened and to convey all of the energy and emotion of the experiences.^[24]

Reception[link]

The book received a mixed reaction from the media in 1957. Some of the earlier reviews spoke highly of the book, but the backlash to these was swift and strong. Although this was discouraging to Kerouac, he still received great recognition and notoriety from the work. Since its publication, critical attention has focused on issues of both the context and the style, addressing the actions of the characters as well as the nature of Kerouac’s prose.

Initial reaction[link]

In his review for The New York Times, Gilbert Millstein wrote, "its publication is a historic occasion in so far as the exposure of an authentic work of art is of any great moment in an age in which the attention is fragmented and the sensibilities are blunted by the superlatives of fashion" and praised it as "a major novel."^[1] Millstein was already sympathetic toward the Beat Generation and his promotion of the book in the Times did wonders for its recognition and acclaim. Not only did he like the themes, but also the style, which would come to be just as hotly contested in the reviews that followed. “There are sections of On the Road in which the writing is of a beauty almost breathtaking...there is some writing on jazz that has never been equaled in American fiction, either for insight, style, or technical virtuosity.”^[1]

The backlash began just a few days later in the same publication. David Dempsey published a review that contradicted most of what Millstein had promoted in the book. “As a portrait of a disjointed segment of society acting out of its own neurotic necessity, "On the Road", is a stunning achievement. But it is a road, as far as the characters are concerned, that leads to nowhere.” While he did not discount the stylistic nature of the text (saying that it was written “with great relish”), he dismissed the content as a “passionate lark” rather than a novel."^[25]

Other reviewers were also less than impressed. Phoebe Lou Adams in Atlantic Monthly wrote that it "disappoints because it constantly promises a revelation or a conclusion of real importance and general applicability, and cannot deliver any such conclusion because Dean is more convincing as an eccentric than as a representative of any segment of humanity."^[26] While she liked the writing and found a good theme, her concern was repetition. “Everything Mr. Kerouac has to say about Dean has been told in the first third of the book, and what comes later is a series of variations on the same theme.”^[26]

The review from Time exhibited a similar sentiment. “The post-World War II generation—beat or beatific—has not found symbolic spokesmen with anywhere near the talents of Fitzgerald, Hemingway, or Nathaniel West. In this novel, talented Author Kerouac, 35, does not join that literary league, either, but at least suggests that his generation is not silent. With his barbaric yawp of a book, Kerouac commands attention as a kind of literary James Dean.”^[27] It considers the book partly a travel book and partly a collection of journal jottings. While Kerouac sees his characters as “mad to live...desirous of everything at the same time,” the reviewer likens them to cases of “psychosis that is a variety of Ganser Syndrome” who “aren’t really mad—they only seem to be.”^[27]

Current reactions[link]

On the Road has been the object of much study since its publication. In celebration of the 50th anniversary of publication, several critics took a fresh look at the text in 2007. It is interesting to consider how the perception has evolved in the last half century.

David Brooks of the New York Times compiled several of these opinions and summarized them in an Op-Ed from October 2, 2007. Where as Millstein saw it as a story in which the heroes took pleasure in everything, George Mouratidis, an editor of a new edition, claimed “above all else, the story is about loss.” “It’s a book about death and the search for something meaningful to hold on to — the famous search for ‘IT,’ a truth larger than the self, which, of course, is never found,” wrote Meghan O’Rourke in Slate. “Kerouac was this deep, lonely, melancholy man,” Hilary Holladay of the University of Massachusetts Lowell told The Philadelphia Inquirer. ”And if you read the book closely, you see that sense of loss and sorrow swelling on every page.” “In truth, ‘On the Road’ is a book of broken dreams and failed plans,” wrote Ted Gioia in The Weekly Standard.^[28]

John Leland, author of Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think), says "We're no longer shocked by the sex and drugs. The slang is passé and at times corny. Some of the racial sentimentality is appalling" but adds "the tale of passionate friendship and the search for revelation are timeless. These are as elusive and precious in our time as in Sal's, and will be when our grandchildren celebrate the book's hundredth anniversary."^[29]

To Brooks, this characterization seems limited. “Reading through the anniversary commemorations, you feel the gravitational pull of the great Boomer Narcissus. All cultural artifacts have to be interpreted through whatever experiences the Baby Boomer generation is going through at that moment. So a book formerly known for its youthful exuberance now becomes a gloomy middle-aged disillusion.”^[28] He laments how the book’s spirit seems to have been tamed by the professionalism of America today and how it has only survived in parts. The more reckless and youthful parts of the text that gave it its energy are the parts that have “run afoul of the new gentility, the rules laid down by the health experts, childcare experts, guidance counselors, safety advisers, admissions officers, virtuecrats and employers to regulate the lives of the young.”^[28] He claims that the “ethos” of the book has been lost.

In reality, the characterization is very fair. It is difficult to see Sal Paradise from the same perspective that they saw him in 1957. It is impossible to have the same point of view because the situation and culture are so different. But it is important to keep all of those original aspects in mind because they are what shaped the influence that On the Road had on the Beat Generation and why it has still survived to this day.

Influence[link]

On the Road has been a major influence on many poets, writers, actors and musicians, including Bob Dylan, Van Morrison, Jim Morrison, Hunter S. Thompson, and many more. "It changed my life like it changed everyone else's," Dylan would say many years later. Tom Waits, too, acknowledged its influence, hymning Jack and Neal in a song and calling the Beats "father figures." At least two great American photographers were influenced by Kerouac: Robert Frank, who became his close friend — Kerouac wrote the introduction to Franks' book, The Americans — and Stephen Shore, who set out on an American road trip in the 1970s with Kerouac's book as a guide. It would be hard to imagine Hunter S. Thompson's road novel Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas had On the Road not laid down the template; likewise, films such as Easy Rider, Paris, Texas, and even Thelma and Louise.^[30]

In his book Light My Fire: My Life with The Doors, Ray Manzarek (keyboard player of The Doors) wrote "I suppose if Jack Kerouac had never written On the Road, The Doors would never have existed."

Since the mobile lifestyle popularized by "On The Road" had a strong influence on the large market segment of baby boomers who joined the hippie movement the death of Jack Kerouac was of interest to the readers of the pioneering new journalism publication Rolling Stone. As a result, editor and publisher of the tabloid, Jann Wenner, printed a detailed account of the funeral of the "On The Road" author by writers Stephen Davis and Eric Ehrmann. According to the Rolling Stone article, Jack Kerouac's open casket viewing at the Archambault Funeral Home and subsequent burial funeral at the Edson Cemetery in Lowell, Massachusetts were attended by few of his "On The Road" era friends. Neal Cassady (Dean Moriarty in the book) had died the year before in 1968. San Francisco poet Lawrence Ferlinghetti chose not to come east to attend. Allen Ginsberg (Carlo Marx in the book) showed up with Peter Orlovsky and Gregory Corso was there filming the event. Author Terry Southern sent a floral arrangement that was on display near the bier. One writer in attendance not associated with the "On The Road" group or Beatnik crowd was New York Daily News columnist Jimmy Breslin, who, like Kerouac, came from a humble, working class background. Breslin, who had been touched by "On The Road" in his youth, journeyed up to Lowell to pay his respects, his feelings about Kerouac's appearing as part of the Rolling Stone coverage. Many writers, actors and artists including Johnny Depp, Ann Charters and Hettie Jones, inter alia, would later share their feelings about how they were influenced by "On The Road" and the Beat culture in the Rolling Stone Book of The Beats edited by Holly George Warren published by Hyperion in 1999.

The scroll exhibition[link]

The original "scroll" of "On The Road" still exists. It was bought in 2001 by Jim Irsay (Indianapolis Colts football team owner) for 2.43 million US dollars. It is available for public viewing, with the first 30 feet (9 m) unrolled. Between 2004 and 2005, the scroll was displayed in a number of museums and libraries in the US, Ireland, and the UK.

Film adaptation[link]

This section's factual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help improve the article by updating it. There may be additional information on the talk page. (May 2012)

A film adaptation of On the Road has been in the works for years and is being released in 2012. Russell Banks wrote a screenplay for producer Francis Ford Coppola, who bought the film rights for $95,000 in 1980.^[31] The Brazilian director Walter Salles directed the movie. After seeing Salles's The Motorcycle Diaries, Coppola decided on Salles and the production is underway.^[32] In preparation for the film, Salles traveled the United States, tracing Kerouac's journey and filming a documentary on the search for On the Road.^[33] Jose Rivera adapted the book into a screenplay. Coppola's American Zoetrope is producing the film, in association with MK2, France 2 Cinéma, Canal+, Film4 in the U.K. and Videofilmes in Brazil. Sam Riley starred as Kerouac's alter ego Sal Paradise. Garrett Hedlund was cast as Dean Moriarty.^[33] Kristen Stewart was cast as Mary Lou.^[34] Kirsten Dunst will be playing Camille.^[35] Filming started on August 2, 2010.^[36] Filming took place in New Orleans, Montreal, Mexico and Argentina with a $25 million budget.^[33][37]

See also[link]

Novels portal

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: On the Road

• References in On the Road
• Off the Road (1990 book by Carolyn Cassady)
• Love Always, Carolyn
• Jack Kerouac Reads On the Road
• Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Gifford, Barry & Lee, Lawrence (2005), Jack's Book: An Oral Biography of Jack Kerouac, New York: Thunder's Mouth Press, ISBN 1-56025-739-3 
• Leland, John (2007), Why Kerouac Matters: The Lessons of On the Road (They're Not What You Think), New York: Viking Press, ISBN 978-0-670-06325-3 
• Nicosia, Gerald (1994), Memory Babe: A Critical Biography of Jack Kerouac, Berkeley: University of California Press, ISBN 0-520-08569-8 
• Theado, Matt (2000), Understanding Jack Kerouac, Columbia SC: University of SC Press, ISBN 978-1-57003-846-4 

External links[link]

• Definitive guide to the 600 characters in Kerouac's and related novels
• The Beat Museum in San Francisco
• On the Road on Open Library at the Internet Archive

The Road
First edition hardcover
Author(s)	Cormac McCarthy
Country	United States
Language	English
Genre(s)	Post-apocalyptic fiction
Publisher	Alfred A. Knopf
Publication date	September 26, 2006
Media type	Print (Hardcover)
Pages	256
ISBN	0-307-26543-9
OCLC Number	70630525

The Road is a 2006 novel by American writer Cormac McCarthy. It is a post-apocalyptic tale of a journey of a father and his young son over a period of several months, across a landscape blasted by an unspecified cataclysm that has destroyed most of civilization and, in the intervening years, almost all life on Earth. The novel was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction in 2006.

The book was adapted to a film by the same name in 2009, directed by John Hillcoat, starring Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee.

Plot summary[link]

An unnamed father and his young son journey across a grim post-apocalyptic landscape, some years after a major unexplained cataclysm has destroyed civilization and most life on Earth. The land is filled with ash and devoid of living animals and vegetation. Many of the remaining human survivors have resorted to cannibalism, scavenging the detritus of city and country alike for flesh. The boy's mother, pregnant with him at the time of the disaster, gave up hope and committed suicide some time before the story begins, despite the father's pleas. Much of the book is written in the third person, with references to "the father" and "the son" or to "the man" and "the boy".

Realizing that they would not survive the oncoming winter where they are, the father takes the boy south along empty roads towards the sea, carrying their meager possessions in their knapsacks and in a supermarket cart. The man coughs blood from time to time and eventually realizes he is dying, yet still struggles to protect his son from the constant threats of attack, exposure, and starvation.

They have a revolver, but only two rounds. The boy has been told to use the gun on himself if necessary to avoid falling into the hands of cannibals. During their trek, the father uses one bullet to kill a man who stumbles upon them and poses a grave threat. Fleeing from the man's companions, they have to abandon most of their possessions. As they are near death from starvation, the man finds an unlooted underground bunker filled with food and other necessities. However, it is too exposed, so they only stay a few days.

In the face of these obstacles, the man repeatedly reassures the boy that they are "the good guys" who are "carrying the fire". On their journey, the duo scrounge for food, evade roving bands, and contend with horrors such as a newborn infant roasted on a spit, and captives being gradually harvested as food.

Although the man and the boy eventually reach the sea, their situation does not improve. They head back inland, but the man succumbs to an illness. Before he dies, the father tells the boy that he can continue to speak with him in his imagination after he is gone. The boy holds wake over the corpse for days, with no idea of what to do next.

On the third day, the grieving boy encounters a man who says he has been tracking the pair. The man, who has a woman and two children of his own, a boy and a girl, convinces the boy that he is one of the "good guys" and takes him under his protection.

Development history[link]

In an interview with Oprah Winfrey, McCarthy said that the inspiration for the book came during a 2003 visit to El Paso, Texas, with his young son. Imagining what the city might look like 50 to 100^[1] years into the future, he pictured "fires on the hill" and thought about his son. He took some initial notes but did not return to the idea until a few years later, while in Ireland. Then, the novel came to him quickly, and he dedicated it to his son, John Francis McCarthy.^[2]

In an interview with John Jurgensen of The Wall Street Journal, McCarthy talks about conversations he and his brother would have about different scenarios for the apocalypse. One of the scenarios involved survivors turning to cannibalism: "when everything's gone, the only thing left to eat is each other."^[3]

Literary significance and criticism[link]

The Road has received numerous positive reviews and honors since its release. The review aggregator Metacritic reported the book had an average score of 90 out of 100, based on 31 reviews.^[4] Critics have deemed it "heartbreaking", "haunting", and "emotionally shattering".^[5][6][7] The Village Voice referred to it as "McCarthy's purest fable yet".^[5] In a New York Review of Books article, author Michael Chabon heralded the novel. Discussing the novel's relation to established genres, Chabon insists The Road is not science fiction; although "the adventure story in both its modern and epic forms...structures the narrative," Chabon says, "ultimately it is as a lyrical epic of horror that The Road is best understood."^[8] Entertainment Weekly in June 2008 named The Road the best book, fiction or non-fiction, of the past 25 years^[9] and put it on its end-of-the-decade, "best-of" list, saying, "With its spare prose, McCarthy's post-apocalyptic odyssey from 2006 managed to be both harrowing and heartbreaking."^[10]

On March 28, 2007, the selection of The Road as the next novel in Oprah Winfrey's Book Club was announced. A televised interview on The Oprah Winfrey Show was conducted on June 5, 2007 and it was McCarthy's first, though he had been interviewed for the printed media before.^[2] The announcement of McCarthy's television appearance surprised those who follow him. "Wait a minute until I can pick my jaw up off the floor," said John Wegner, an English professor at Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas, and editor of the Cormac McCarthy Journal, when told of the interview.^[11] During Oprah's interview McCarthy insisted his son, John Francis, was a co-author to the novel, revealing some conversations between the father and son were actual conversations between them. The Novel was also dedicated to his son, in a way it is a love story for his son but McCarthy felt embarrassed to admit it on t.v. ^[12]

Environmentalist response[link]

British environmental campaigner George Monbiot was so impressed by The Road that he declared McCarthy to be one of the "50 people who could save the planet" in an article published in January 2008. Monbiot wrote, "It could be the most important environmental book ever. It is a thought experiment that imagines a world without a biosphere, and shows that everything we value depends on the ecosystem."^[13] This nomination echoes the review Monbiot had written some months earlier for The Guardian in which he wrote, "A few weeks ago I read what I believe is the most important environmental book ever written. It is not Silent Spring, Small Is Beautiful or even Walden. It contains no graphs, no tables, no facts, figures, warnings, predictions or even arguments. Nor does it carry a single dreary sentence, which, sadly, distinguishes it from most environmental literature. It is a novel, first published a year ago, and it will change the way you see the world."^[14]

Awards and nominations[link]

In 2006 McCarthy was awarded the James Tait Black Memorial Prize in fiction, the 2006 Believer Book Award and was a finalist for the 2006 National Book Critics Circle Award for fiction.^[15]. And on April 16, 2007, the novel was awarded the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for fiction.^[16]

Film adaptation[link]

A film adaptation of the novel, directed by John Hillcoat and written by Joe Penhall, opened in theatres on November 25, 2009. The film stars Viggo Mortensen and Kodi Smit-McPhee as the man and the boy. Production took place in Louisiana, Oregon, and several locations in Pennsylvania.^[17]

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Cates, Anna (February 2010). "Secular Winds: Disrupted Natural Revelation & the Journey toward God in Cormac McCarthy's The Road". Internet Review of Science Fiction VII (2). http://www.irosf.com/q/zine/article/10637. Retrieved 7 November 2010. 
• Graulund, Rune (February 2010). "Fulcrums and Borderlands: A Desert Reading of Cormac McCarthy’s The Road". Orbis Litterarum 65 (1). DOI:10.1111/j.1600-0730.2009.00985.x. 

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: The Road

• Juan Asensio/Stalker review
• NPR review
• The New York Times review
• The Washington Post review
• Sunday Telegraph review
• Booklist review
• The New York Review of Books review (fee required to read entire text)
• Slate review

Kristen Stewart
Kristen Stewart at the 2012 Wondercon on March 17, 2012
Born	Kristen Jaymes Stewart (1990-04-09) April 9, 1990 (age 22) Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1999–present
Signature
Website
kristenstewart.com

Kristen Jaymes Stewart (born April 9, 1990) is an American actress. She is best known for playing Bella Swan in The Twilight Saga. She has starred in other films, including Panic Room (2002), Zathura (2005), In the Land of Women (2007), The Messengers (2007), Adventureland (2009), The Runaways (2010), and Snow White and the Huntsman. She will star in upcoming films in 2012: On the Road and The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 2.

Early life[link]

Stewart was born and raised in Los Angeles, California.^[1][2][3] Her father, John Stewart, is a stage manager and television producer who has worked for Fox.^[4] Her mother, Jules Mann-Stewart, is a script supervisor originally from Maroochydore, Queensland, Australia.^[3][5][6][7] She has an older brother, Cameron Stewart, and an adopted brother, Taylor.^[8][9] Stewart attended school until the seventh grade and then continued her education by correspondence.^[3] She has since completed high school.^[10]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

Her whole family all worked behind the camera and Stewart thought she would become a writer/director, but never considered being an actor. "I never wanted to be the center of attention – I wasn't that 'I want to be famous, I want to be an actor' kid. I never sought out acting, but I always practiced my autograph because I love pens. I'd write my name on everything."^[11] Stewart's acting career began at the age of eight, after an agent saw her perform in her elementary school's Christmas play.^[12] After a year of auditioning, Stewart's first role was a small nonspeaking part in the Disney Channel original film The Thirteenth Year.^[4] Then, she had another part in the film The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas as the "ring toss girl".^[4] She subsequently appeared in the independent film The Safety of Objects, in which she played the tomboy daughter of a troubled single mother (Patricia Clarkson). Stewart also played a tomboy in the film Panic Room, playing the diabetic daughter of a divorced mother (Jodie Foster). She was nominated for a Young Artist Award for her performance.^[13]

After Panic Room's success, Stewart was cast in another thriller, Cold Creek Manor, playing the daughter of Dennis Quaid's and Sharon Stone's characters. She was again nominated for a Young Artist Award for her performance.^[13] It was revealed that at about this time in her career, she had to be homeschooled due to her irregular schedule, which was affecting her grades. She said, "I started homeschooling because my teachers were failing me. I think it was just resentment – I made more work for them. But homeschooling is great; you can study what you want, which allows you to get more excited about what you're doing".^[13]

2004–07[link]

Her first starring role followed, in the children's action-comedy Catch That Kid, opposite Max Thieriot and Corbin Bleu. Stewart also played the role of Lila in the thriller Undertow. Stewart starred in the Lifetime/Showtime television film Speak (2004), based on the novel by Laurie Halse Anderson. Stewart, 13 at the time of filming, played high school freshman Melinda Sordino, who stops almost all verbal contact after being raped.

In 2005, Stewart appeared in the fantasy-adventure film Zathura, playing the role of Lisa, the irresponsible older sister of two little boys, who turn their house into a spacecraft hurtling uncontrollably in outer space by playing a board game. The film received praise by critics, but Stewart's performance did not garner much media attention, as it was noted that her character is immobilized during most of the film.^[14] The following year, she played the character Maya in Fierce People, directed by Griffin Dunne. After that film, she received the lead role of Jess Solomon in the supernatural thriller film The Messengers.

In 2007, Stewart appeared as teenager Lucy Hardwicke in In the Land of Women, a romantic drama starring Meg Ryan and Adam Brody. The film, as well as Stewart's performance, received mixed reviews. That same year, Stewart appeared in the Sean Penn-directed adaptation film Into the Wild. For her portrayal of Tracy – a teenage singer who has a crush on young adventurer Christopher McCandless (played by Emile Hirsch) – Stewart received mixed reviews. While Salon.com considered her work a "sturdy, sensitive performance",^[15] and the Chicago Tribune noted that she did "vividly well with a sketch of a role",^[16] Variety's critic Dennis Harvey said, "It's unclear whether Stewart means to be playing hippie-chick Tracy as vapid, or whether it just comes off that way."^[17] After Into the Wild, Stewart had a cameo appearance in Jumper and also appeared in What Just Happened, which was released in October 2008.^[18] She also co-starred in The Cake Eaters an independent film that has only been screened at film festivals.

2008–present[link]

On November 16, 2007, Summit Entertainment announced that Stewart would play Isabella "Bella" Swan in the film Twilight, based on Stephenie Meyer's bestselling vampire romance novel of the same name.^[19] Stewart was on the set of Adventureland when director Catherine Hardwicke visited her for an informal screen test which "captivated" the director.^[20] She starred alongside Robert Pattinson, who plays Edward Cullen, her character's vampire boyfriend. The film began production in February 2008 and finished filming in May 2008. Twilight was released domestically on November 21, 2008.^[21] Her performance garnered mixed reviews with some critcs calling her "the ideal casting choice" and praising her for conveying "Bella's detachment, as well as her need to bust through it"^[22] while others criticized her acting for being "wooden" and lacking variety in her facial expressions which they described as "blank".^[23]

Stewart reappeared as Bella in the sequel, The Twilight Saga: New Moon, once again receiving mixed reviews for her performance. Jordan Mintzer from Variety called Stewart "the heart and soul of the film" and praised her for giving "both weight and depth to dialogue...she makes Bella's psychological wounds seem like the real deal"^[24] Manohla Dargis from The New York Times said Stewart's "lonely-girl blues soon grow wearisome" throughout the film^[25] and Billy Goodykoontz from The Arizona Republic stated "Stewart is a huge disapointment... She sucks the energy right out of the film".^[26] She reprised this role in The Twilight Saga: Eclipse.

Kristen Stewart at the 2010 Academy Awards.

At the 2010 82nd Annual Academy Awards, Stewart and Twilight co-star Taylor Lautner presented a tribute in honour of the horror movie genre.^[27]

In 2009, Stewart starred in The Yellow Handkerchief, which debuted at the Sundance Film Festival and was released into theaters in 2010 by Samuel Goldwyn Films. She also starred alongside James Gandolfini in Welcome to the Rileys, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010.

In 2010, Stewart portrayed rock star Joan Jett in The Runaways, a biographical film of the titular band of the same name from writer-director Floria Sigismondi.^[28] Stewart met with Jett over the 2008–2009 New Year to prepare for the role and ended up prerecording songs in a studio for the film.^[29] She received praise for her performance as the Metro Times wrote, "It turns out that Stewart is actually really good at capturing Jett's icy, tough-but-cool girl swagger, adding the needed touches of vulnerability that transform it into a pretty terrific performance... Stewart is a genuine rock star here."^[30] Also, A. O. Scott of The New York Times noted "Ms. Stewart, watchful and unassuming, gives the movie its spine and soul."^[31]

She was cast in the role of Mary Lou in an upcoming film adaptation of Jack Kerouac's cult classic novel On the Road. Shooting began in August 2010.^[32]

Stewart was listed as the highest earning female actress in Hollywood in the "2010's Top Hollywood Top Earners List" compiled by Vanity Fair. Throughout 2010, Stewart earned an estimated $28.5 million for all her movie appearances.^[33]

The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1 was released on November 18, 2011. The film was successful in the box office making $283.5 million its opening weekend. Though the film received negative reviews, Stewart's performance was praised. Gabriel Chong called Stewart's performance "mesmerising" and said that she "makes [Bella's] every emotion keenly felt that runs the gamut from joy, trepidation, anxiety, distress and above all quiet and resolute determination"^[34] and the Village Voice's Dan Konis saying Stewart "beautifully underplays"^[35] the role. However, some critics found Pattinson and Stewart's chemistry lacking and said that the relationship came off like a "charade" onscreen^[36] or that none of the three leads were convincing in their roles.^[37]

In March 2011, it was confirmed that Stewart would be playing Snow White in the film Snow White and the Huntsman.^[38] Filming began on August 15 and the film was released on June 1, 2012.^[39]

On December 6, 2011, Stewart was named number one on Forbes magazine's list of Hollywood's Best Actors for the Buck.^[40]

She was named the new face of an unnamed Balenciaga perfume on January 13, 2012.^[41]

In May 2012, Stewart was cast in the thiller titled Cali, directed by Nick Cassavetes. She will begin shooting the film at the end of this summer.^[42] Stewart plays one half of a troublesome pair of San Fernando Valley lovebirds who decide to sell a fake snuff film and permanently ditch with the cash. Years later, Stewart's character runs into a dilemma when she's compelled to return to Los Angeles to help out the little sister she left behind. After faking her own death, she must explain her dramatic decision to not only her closest family members but to the angry former business partners she left behind.

Personal life[link]

Stewart currently lives in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles. She has expressed a desire to live and work in Australia, saying, "I want to go to Sydney University in Australia. My mom's from there."^[43] Apart from acting, she is also interested in attending college in the near future, saying, "I want to go to college for literature. I want to be a writer. I mean, I love what I do, but it's not all I want to do – be a professional liar for the rest of my life."^[44] In 2008, in an interview with Vanity Fair, Stewart acknowledged that she was in a relationship with Michael Angarano, her co-star from Speak.^[45]

Since meeting on the set of Twilight, Stewart has been romantically linked to co-star Robert Pattinson.^[46] Though they have never explicitly confirmed a relationship, paparazzi photographs and eyewitness accounts have driven intense media and fan speculation and attention, making "Robsten" the subject of wide media coverage.^[47] In an interview with GQ, when asked why she remained reluctant to talk about the relationship despite evidence of it being accessible online, Stewart replied, "Yeah, I know it is...So much of my life is so easily googled. I mean, it's like, come on guys, it's so obvious!"^[47] When asked why she refuses to talk about her life, Stewart replied "I'm selfish. I'm like, 'That's mine!' And I like to keep whatever is mine remaining that way. It's a funny little game to play and it's a slippery slope. I always say to myself I'm never going to give anything away because there's never any point or benefit for me. I guarantee whenever I get married or have a baby, everyone is going to want to know my kid's name and I'm not going to say it for ages."^[47]

Filmography[link]

Awards and nominations[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Kristen Stewart

• Official website
• Kristen Stewart at the Internet Movie Database

Kirsten Dunst
Dunst at the 2010 Tribeca Film Festival in NYC
Born	Kirsten Caroline Dunst (1982-04-30) April 30, 1982 (age 30) Point Pleasant, New Jersey, United States
Nationality	Dual American/German
Occupation	Actress, singer, model
Years active	1989–present

Kirsten Caroline Dunst (born April 30, 1982) is an American-German actress, singer and model. She made her film debut in Oedipus Wrecks, a short film directed by Woody Allen for the anthology New York Stories (1989). At the age of 12, Dunst gained widespread recognition playing the role of vampire Claudia in Interview with the Vampire (1994), a performance for which she was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. The same year she appeared in Little Women, to further acclaim.

Dunst achieved international fame as a result of her portrayal of Mary Jane Watson in the Spider-Man trilogy (2002–07). Since then her films have included the romantic comedy Wimbledon (2004), the romantic science fiction Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) and Cameron Crowe's tragicomedy Elizabethtown (2005). She played the title role in Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette (2006) and starred in the comedy How to Lose Friends & Alienate People (2008). She won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival in 2011 for her performance in Lars von Trier's Melancholia.

In 2001, Dunst made her singing debut in the film Get Over It, in which she performed two songs. She also sang the jazz song "After You've Gone" for the end credits of the film The Cat's Meow (2001).

Early life[link]

Dunst was born in Point Pleasant, New Jersey, to Inez (née Rupprecht) and Klaus Dunst.^[1] She has one younger brother.^[2] Her father worked as a medical services executive, and her mother was an artist and one-time gallery owner.^[3] Dunst's father is German, originally from Hamburg, and Dunst's mother, who was born in New Jersey, is of German and Swedish descent^[4][5] (Dunst obtained German citizenship in 2011 and now holds dual citizenship with the United States and Germany).^[6][7]

Until the age of six, Dunst lived in Brick Township, New Jersey, where she attended Ranney School.^[8] In 1991, she moved with her mother and younger brother to Los Angeles, California, where she attended Laurel Hall Day School. In 1995, her mother filed for divorce.^[3] The following year Dunst began attending Notre Dame, a private Catholic high school in Los Angeles.

After graduating from Notre Dame, Dunst continued the acting career that she had begun at the age of eight.^[2] As a teenager, she found it difficult to deal with her rising fame, and for a period she blamed her mother for pushing her into acting as a child. However, she later expressed that her mother "always had the best intentions".^[9] When asked if she had any regrets about the way she spent her childhood, Dunst said: "Well, it's not a natural way to grow up, but it's the way I grew up and I wouldn't change it. I have my stuff to work out ... I don't think anybody can sit around and say: 'My life is more screwed up than yours.' Everybody has their issues."^[7]

Career[link]

Early work[link]

Dunst began her career when she was three years old as a child fashion model in television commercials.^[3][10] She was signed with Ford Models and Elite Model Management.^[3] At the age of eight years old she made her film debut in a minor role in Woody Allen's Oedipus Wrecks, a short film that was released as one-third of the anthology New York Stories (1989).^[3] Soon after, she landed a small part in The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990), as Tom Hanks's daughter.^[3] In 1993, Dunst played Hedril in "Dark Page", the seventh episode of the seventh season of Star Trek: The Next Generation.^[11]

Critical success[link]

The breakthrough role in Dunst's career came in Interview with the Vampire, a 1994 film based on Anne Rice's novel, in which she played the child vampire Claudia, a surrogate daughter to Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt's characters in the film.^[12] The film received ambivalent reviews,^[13] but many film critics complimented Dunst's performance. Roger Ebert commented that Dunst's creation of the child vampire Claudia was one of the "creepier" aspects of the film, and mentioned her ability to convey the impression of great age inside apparent youth.^[14] Todd McCarthy in Variety noted that Dunst was "just right" for the family.^[15] The film featured a scene in which Dunst received her first kiss from Brad Pitt, who was 18 years her senior.^[16] In an interview with Interview magazine, she revealed, while questioned about her kissing scene with Pitt, that kissing him had made her feel uncomfortable: "I thought it was gross, that Brad had cooties. I mean, I was 10."^[17] Her performance earned her the MTV Movie Award for Best Breakthrough Performance, the Saturn Award for Best Young Actress, and her first Golden Globe Award nomination.^[2][18][19]

Later in 1994, Dunst appeared in the adaptation of the drama Little Women opposite Winona Ryder and Claire Danes.^[3] The film received favorable reviews.^[20] Critic Janet Maslin of The New York Times wrote that the film was the greatest adaptation of the novel and remarked on Dunst's performance, "The perfect contrast to take-charge Jo comes from Kirsten Dunst's scene-stealing Amy, whose vanity and twinkling mischief make so much more sense coming from an 11-year-old vixen than they did from grown-up Joan Bennett in 1933. Ms. Dunst, also scarily effective as the baby bloodsucker of Interview With the Vampire, is a little vamp with a big future."^[21]

In 1995, she appeared in the fantasy movie Jumanji, loosely based on Chris Van Allsburg's 1981 book of the same name.^[22] The story is about a supernatural and ominous board game which makes animals and other jungle hazards appear upon each roll of the dice.^[22] She was part of an ensemble cast that included Robin Williams, Bonnie Hunt, and David Alan Grier. The movie grossed $262 million worldwide.^[23] That year, and again in 2002, she was named one of People magazine's 50 Most Beautiful People.^[3] In 1996, Dunst had a recurring role in the third season of NBC's medical drama ER. She portrayed a child prostitute, Charlie Chiemingo, taken under the guidance of Dr. Doug Ross, played by George Clooney.^[2] In 1997, she was the voice of Young Anastasia in the animated musical film Anastasia.^[24] Also in 1997, Dunst appeared in the political satire Wag the Dog, opposite Robert De Niro and Dustin Hoffman.^[25] The following year she was the voice of the title character, Kiki, a 13-year-old apprentice witch who leaves her home village to spend a year on her own, in the anime movie Kiki's Delivery Service (1998).^[26]

Dunst was offered the role of Angela in the 1999 drama film American Beauty, but turned it down because she did not want to appear in the film's suggestive sexual scenes or kiss co-star Kevin Spacey.^[17] She later explained: "When I read it, I was 15 and I don't think I was mature enough to understand the script's material."^[17] That same year, she appeared in the comedy Dick, alongside Michelle Williams. The film is a parody retelling the events of the Watergate scandal which lead to the resignation of U.S. president Richard Nixon.^[27]

In Sofia Coppola's independent film The Virgin Suicides (1999), Dunst played the role of troubled adolescent Lux Lisbon.^[28] The film was screened as a special presentation at the 43rd San Francisco International Film Festival in 2000.^[29] The movie received generally favorable reviews,^[30] and San Francisco Chronicle critic Peter Stack noted in his review that Dunst "beautifully balances innocence and wantonness."^[31]

In 2000, she played Torrance Shipman, the captain of a cheerleading squad in Bring It On.^[32] The film generated mostly critical reviews,^[33] with Charles Taylor of Salon.com writing that the film had failed to provide Dunst with as good a role as she had either in Dick or in The Virgin Suicides.^[34] However, Jessica Winter of The Village Voice complimented Dunst, stating that her performance was "as sprightly and knowingly daft as her turn in Dick. She provides the only major element of Bring It On that plays as tweaking parody rather than slick, strident, body-slam churlishness."^[35] The movie grossed $90 million worldwide.^[23]

The following year, Dunst had the lead in the teen comedy Get Over It (2001).^[36] She later explained that one of the reasons for accepting the role was that it gave her the opportunity to sing.^[37] Also in 2001, she depicted the late American actress Marion Davies in The Cat's Meow, directed by Peter Bogdanovich. Derek Elley of Variety described the film as "playful and sporty," saying that this was Dunst's best performance to date: "Believable as both a spoiled ingenue and a lover to two very different men, Dunst endows a potentially lightweight character with considerable depth and sympathy."^[38] In the Esquire review, Tom Carson called her performance "terrific."^[39] For her work, she won the Best Actress Silver Ombú category award at the 2002 Mar del Plata Film Festival.^[40]

[edit] Spider-Man and after

Dunst at the Cannes film festival premiere of Marie Antoinette.

In the 2002 superhero film Spider-Man, the most successful film of her career to date, Dunst played Mary Jane Watson, the best friend and love interest of the title character, played by Tobey Maguire. The film was directed by Sam Raimi. Owen Gleiberman of Entertainment Weekly remarked on Dunst's ability to "lend even the smallest line a tickle of flirtatious music."^[41] In the Los Angeles Times review, critic Kenneth Turan noted that Dunst and Maguire made a real connection on screen, concluding that their relationship involved audiences to an extent rarely seen in films.^[42] Spider-Man was a commercial and critical success.^[43] The movie grossed $114 million during its opening weekend in North America and went on to earn $822 million worldwide.^[23]

Following the success of Spider-Man, Dunst appeared in the independent drama Levity (2003), where she had a supporting role.^[44] That same year she starred in Mona Lisa Smile (2003). She was part of an ensemble cast that included Julia Roberts, Maggie Gyllenhaal, and Julia Stiles. The film generated mostly negative reviews,^[45] with Manohla Dargis of the Los Angeles Times describing it as "smug and reductive."^[46] She next appeared in the supporting role of Mary Svevo in Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), alongside Jim Carrey, Kate Winslet, and Tom Wilkinson.^[47] The latter film received very positive reviews,^[48] with Entertainment Weekly describing Dunst's subplot as "nifty and clever."^[49] The movie grossed $72 million worldwide.^[23]

The success of the first Spider-Man film led Dunst to reprise the role in the 2004 sequel, Spider-Man 2.^[50] The movie was well received by critics^[51] and a financial success, setting a new opening weekend box office record for North America.^[52] With revenue of $783 million worldwide, it was the second highest grossing film in 2004.^[23] Also in 2004, she portrayed a rising tennis player in the Wimbledon Championships opposite Paul Bettany, who played a fading former tennis star in the romantic comedy Wimbledon. Reception for the movie was mixed,^[53] but many critics enjoyed Dunst's performance.^[54][55] Claudia Puig of USA Today reported that the chemistry between Dunst and Bettany was potent, with Dunst doing a fine job as a sassy and self-assured player.^[56]

In 2005, she appeared as flight attendant Claire Colburn alongside Orlando Bloom, in Elizabethtown, a movie written and directed by Cameron Crowe. The film premiered at the 2005 Toronto Film Festival. Dunst revealed that working with Crowe was enjoyable, but more demanding than she had expected.^[7] The movie garnered mixed reviews,^[57] with the Chicago Tribune rating it one out of four stars and describing Dunst's portrayal of a flight attendant as "cloying."^[58] It was a box office disappointment.^[59]

Dunst's next film role was the title character in the 2006 biographical film Marie Antoinette. Adapted from Antonia Fraser's book Marie Antoinette: The Journey, the film was Dunst's second with director Sofia Coppola.^[60][61] The movie was screened at a special presentation at the 2006 Cannes Film Festival,^[62] and was reviewed favourably.^[63] International revenues were $45 million out of $60 million overall.^[64]

Dunst with Brian Geraghty at the 2010 premiere of Bastard.

In 2007 she again played Mary Jane Watson, in Spider-Man 3.^[65] In contrast to the previous two films' positive reviews,^[43][51] Spider-Man 3 was met with a mixed reception by critics.^[66] Nonetheless, with a total worldwide gross of $891 million, it stands as the most commercially successful film in the series and Dunst's highest grossing film to the end of 2008.^[23] Having initially signed on for three Spider-Man films, she revealed that she would do a fourth, but only if Raimi and Maguire also returned.^[67] In January 2010 it was announced that the Spider-Man franchise would be restarted, thus dropping Dunst, Maguire, and Raimi from the film series.^[68][69]

In 2008, Dunst starred alongside Simon Pegg in How to Lose Friends and Alienate People,^[70] an adaptation of the memoir of the same name by former Vanity Fair contributing editor Toby Young.^[71] After she signed on to the film, she revealed that she had joined the project because Pegg was scheduled to appear in it.^[72]

Since 2010, Dunst's work has included directing the short film Bastard which premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2010,^[73] and was later featured at the 2010 Cannes Film Festival.^[74] Her next role was in a leading role opposite Ryan Gosling in the romantic drama All Good Things (2010) in which she portrays a woman from a run-down neighborhood who goes missing.^[75] The feature received reasonable reviews,^[76] and earned $640 thousand worldwide.^[23] Dunst stars in Lars von Trier's science-fiction film Melancholia as a depressed woman at the end of the world. The film, which also stars Charlotte Gainsbourg, Kiefer Sutherland and Charlotte Rampling premiered at the 2011 Cannes Film Festival. Dunst won the Best Actress Award award for her performance.^[77][78]

Dunst has signed to appear in Sweet Relief as peace activist Marla Ruzicka, a U.S. relief worker killed by a suicide bomb in Baghdad.^[79][80] She has expressed interest in playing the role of Blondie frontwoman Debbie Harry in Michel Gondry's upcoming biographical film about the band.^[81][82] Dunst is due to appear in Juan Diego Solanas' science fiction-romance film Upside Down co-starring Jim Sturgess.^[83] Dunst has also recently filmed the short film The Second Bakery Attack with Brian Geraghty.^[84]

Reports have also stated that she will join Kristen Stewart, Sam Riley, and Garrett Hedlund in the upcoming feature, On the Road.^[85] She will make a cameo appearance in the upcoming short feature Fight for Your Right Revisited. It premiered at the 2011 Sundance Film Festival.^[86] As of September 2011, Dunst finished filming the independent comedy, Bachelorette, produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay.^[87][88] Reports have stated that she will join Clive Owen and Orlando Bloom in the international thriller titled 'Cities'. Filming will begin in Spring of 2012.^[89] In January 2012, Dunst will also star alongside Mark Ruffalo and Billy Crudup in the drama film, Red Light Winter.^[90]