This book explores the life and authorial development of Jack Kerouac through previously unpublished papers, letters, and other literary artifacts.
In Running Through Heaven: Visions of Jack Kerouac, Jacob Loewentheil tells the father of the Beat generation’s story through letters, several unpublished manuscripts, notable copies of Kerouac’s major works, literary artifacts, and personal items. These physical objects convey quirks, habits, and intimate facets of Kerouac’s character, showing the writer in the making. His early letters, many previously unpublished and from Loewentheil’s own collection, shed light on his emerging and highly influential stream of consciousness style.
Running Through Heaven testifies to the richness of Kerouac’s writing, his lifelong love of education, his complex relationship with religion, the tensions and contradictions in his sexuality, his influence on other writers, his turn toward conservatism, and his pivotal relationship with his mother. To fixate on the continuing popularity of On the Road is to miss Kerouac’s legacy, which extends far beyond literary circles.
272 pages | 67 color plates | 6 x 9 | © 2026
Literature and Literary Criticism: American and Canadian Literature
Table of Contents
FOREWORD by Ann Charters 11
COLLECTOR’S STATEMENT 13
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS 15
INTRODUCTION: Toward an Understanding of Jack Kerouac 17
ESSAYS by Jacob Loewentheil
BECOMING KEROUAC: A Literary Education in Letters 25
SACRED DRIFT: Kerouac’s Religious Evolution 36
ROMANTIC JACK: Myth, Love, and the Spirit of the Road 49
THE LAST ROAD: Jack Kerouac’s "Conservative Turn" 61
STILL MOVING: Why Kerouac Matters 67
ITEM DESCRIPTIONS
APOSTOLOS LETTERS 1940–1967 74
Letters to Lowell by Holly George-Warren 75
February 18, 1940 78
March 1940 79
May 2, 1940 80
June 1, 1940 82
June 4, 1940 82
June 9, 1940 84
September 26, 1940 84
October 27, 1940 86
December 4, 1940 86
Undated (“Friday nite”), c. 1940 90
Undated, c. 1941 92
January 8–10, 1941 94
February 3, 1941 96
February 25, 1941 96
March 28, 1941 / “Spring” 97
April, 1941 97
April 15, 1941 99
April / “Spring” 1941 101
May 12, 1941 101
May, 1941 101
February 15–16, 1942 107
March 26, 1942 109
May 26, 1967 110
ED WHITE LETTERS 1948–1968 112
Sketches in Friendship: Ed White and the Origins of “Spontaneous Prose” by Tim Hunt 113
July 8, 1948 118
November 30, 1948 118
January 15, 1949 121
May 9, 1949 121
January 16, 1950 122
March 5, 1950 125
April 12, 1950 125
April 26, 1950 125
July 5, 1950 127
August 29, 1950 129
September 23, 1950 129
November 3, 1950 131
March 2, 1951 131
March 12, 1952 133
August 31, 1953 134
August 15, 1954 137
April 28, 1957 137
June 19, 1958 140
July 21, 1958 142
August 7, 1961 142
February 9, 1962 145
May 27, 1964 146
March 1, 1965 147
October 2, 1965 147
April 21, 1968 149
THE MUSIC BETWEEN THEM: David Amram on Jack Kerouac 152
OTHER LETTERS 166
Jack Kerouac’s Quest for Beatitude by Rob Sean Wilson 167
Letter to Bill Ryan 170
Handwritten Letter to Alan Harrington 171
Two Unpublished Letters to Allen Ginsberg Touching on Buddhism 171
Typed Letter Draft to Allen Ginsberg 172
Handwritten Letter to Robert Lax 173
Letter to Gary Snyder on Completion of Visions of Gerard 175
Letter to Will Petersen 177
Letter to Filmmaker Jerry Wald 178
Letter to Allen Ginsberg 180
Letter to Neal Cassady 182
Typed Letter with Extensive Handwritten Annotations to Girlfriend Lois Sorrells 183
Letter to Sterling Lord 184
Two Notes to Carolyn Cassady 185 Holiday Card to Carolyn Cassady 186
FIRST EDITIONS AND PUBLISHED WORKS 187
Three Important Associated or Inscribed Copies of the First Edition of On the Road 189
Targ Copy 189
Extraordinary Jazz Presentation Copy 191
Kerouac’s Own First Edition Copy 192
The Town and the City, Jointly Inscribed by Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg 192
Two Inscribed First Edition Copies of The Town and the City 195
Kerouac’s Copy of His First Novel, The Town and the City 197
The Dharma Bums, Inscribed to Kerouac’s Mother and Their Cats 197
Doctor Sax, Inscribed to Lucien Carr and Francesca von Hartz 199
Kerouac’s Personal Copy of Visions of Cody 201
MISCELLANEOUS PUBLISHED WORKS 203
Kerouac’s First Published Story: “The Brothers” 203
Kerouac’s “Une Veille de Noel” 203
Original Printing Paris Review 11 205
Text for Pull My Daisy 205
Signed Off the Road by Carolyn Cassady 207
The Beat Scene 208
Original Printing Paris Review 43 209
Kerouac’s Personal Copy of the Evergreen Review Containing His Article “Seattle Burlesque” 209
Kerouac’s Personal Copies of Three “Girlie” Magazines with His Writing 209
JACK KEROUAC TYPESCRIPT MANUSCRIPTS 211
Unpublished Story: “Ken Harris: A Crime Tale” by a Young Kerouac 211
Jack Kerouac and His Long-Lost Brother by Richard Kopley 215
Unpublished Draft of Visions of Gerard: An Analysis 219 Kerouac, “Notes to Myself” 224
Kerouac, “Letter to Myself” 228
JACK KEROUAC’S PERSONAL VOLUMES 230
Kerouac’s Personal, Annotated Copy of Dostoyevsky’s The Possessed 231
Kerouac’s Personal Copy of Boswell’s Life of Johnson 232
Kerouac’s Personal Copy of Melville’s Shorter Novels 234
Kerouac’s Personal Copy of Pa’lante Annotated Volume with Letter 235
Kerouac’s Personal Copy of The Way of Zen 236 Kerouac’s Personal Copy of Sea & Sky 237
JACK KEROUAC’S PERSONAL POSSESSIONS 238
Kerouac’s Venerated Photo of His Brother Gerard 239
Kerouac’s Beat-Era Buddhist Mala Beads 239
Kerouac’s Personal Well-Worn Crucifix 242
Kerouac’s Crucifix with Rosary Beads 242
Kerouac’s Handwritten Railway Work Schedule 243
Kerouac’s Tobacco Pouch with Tobacco 244
Kerouac’s Personal Religious Wall Art 245
Kerouac’s Wedding Band 246
ADDENDUM: Miscellaneous Kerouac-Related Objects 248
Kerouac, Old Angel Midnight 249
Kerouac Family Legal Archive 249
Kerouac and Sampas Family Photo Negatives 251
Two Contact Sheets of Unpublished Photographs of Kerouac 251 Signed Personal Check 252
Neal Cassady’s Chess Set, Oil Portrait of Him, and Chess Books 252
Carolyn Cassady, Letters to Collector Gérard Leman 253
Chicago Jazz Record 254
Carolyn Cassady, Framed Photograph of Kerouac, Neal Cassady, and Cathy Cassady 254
Photographic Portrait of Kerouac Holding Burroughs’s Cat in Tangiers 256
Photographic Portrait of Kerouac by Ginsberg (Late in Life) 256
INDEX 259