Opinions differ as to whether Kerouac really wrote in this way, or whether he did a sneaky bit of rewriting and polishing afterwards. There are also different views on the literary merit of the “spontaneous” approach. Truman Capote, for one, was famously unimpressed. Spontaneous prose was, he declared, “not writing, but typing”.

On this subject too, the scroll has a tale to tell.

“There are a lot of annotations,” says Kennedy. “He went back over the scroll with pencil, scored things out, and changed names and so forth. You can see these changes before your eyes, which is something that scholars would usually have to go to a library or research institute to do. It’s great that this can be on display, free of charge, to the public.”

thanks, i will check it out

I'm sorry, the last 7 feet were eaten by a dog? Is that where the excuse, my dog ate my homework came from.

Antara - I'd go if I were in Dublin. If you're so inclined, I love to know your thoughts on the exhibition.
.
tanyamm - hmm ... that could be, if so, then another mystery solved.