Today we know them as The Beat Generation. Back in the 1950's they were the counterculture. Some of them became famous; Allen Ginsberg, William Burroughs, Jack Kerouac. The poet Allen Ginsberg introduced Joyce Johnson to his friend Jack Kerouac in 1957 and that was the beginning of a brief love affair. During that period they exchanged many letters. When she met Kerouac he was still an unknown but that was about to change in a big way with the publication of his book "On the Road."
Joyce Johnson was fortunate. She thought that her letters to Jack had gotten lost. But it turned out that Kerouac's mother had kept them all and after many years Joyce was finally able to recover them. This collection of letters takes readers back sixty years to a time period that almost seems somewhat quaint now, in retrospect.
The Book Nook on WYSO is presented by the Greene County Public Library with additional support from Washington-Centerville Public Library, Clark County Public Library, Dayton Metro Library, and Wright Memorial Public Library.
