15 September 2007

15 September 2007
Mark Twain
United States of America

Dear Mark,

Today, instead of relating my most recent experiences here in Russia, I have decided to wite to you about a book that I have just finished, and some insights that it has given me; including possible enhancements of my views of this current adventure that I'm on.

As we were waiting at JFK airport, I decided to buy a copy of Jack Kerouac's "On the Road"; for some reason, it seemed the proper thing to do. I must admit to full embarassment that this is my first experience reading Kerouac; not just because of the incredible literature that he created, but also for the reason that I was born and bred in Lowell, Massachusetts, which is where he is from-I know his family, my parent's (older) siblings were his friends; he is a folk hero there, both worshiped and vilified. Maybe that has to do with why I never read him-many people did not have anything kind to say about him, quite opposite, in fact. Maybe, I just never got around to it, which is suprising since his generation, the Beat Generation, is one that I know well.

I think that the issue with Kerouac stems from the post-WWI generation. WWI, for better or for worse, was the end of the Victorian Era; most certainly in thought, culture, and concept. The US was very Victorian-status and family heritage was considered the utmost of being-free thought was anathema to it's philosophy. Many of the children born after the war were the ones who fought in WWII, or at least were old enough to understand the implications and results; here we start to have a change of philosophy, in particular the disillusionment with the United States' post war policies and the atomic bomb. These individuals were fighting against the Victorian concept of status and reservedness, and were looking for freedom. Here we have a division in this generation: those who looked back to the Victorian lives of their parents, and those who looked forward: Kerouac looked forward, many in Lowell looked back-hence the Love-Hate relationship.

The Beat generation is also known as the Lost generation-they are really the group that bridged the 19th and 20th centuries. With their parents, or against them, that was the question. It's really an amazing and confusing group-the generation that produced both Bebop and Abstract Expressionism was also the only generation in American history never to produce a US President. An amazing dichotomy.

My parents were Victorians, as I believe many immigrant families were-keeping traditions alive and holding respect for status and image and family. Kerouac was a Progressive, the antithesis of Victorian thought. This made him dangerous.

Which brings me to my experience.

I understand this book; I also can sympathize with the characters-I know them all, have travelled, befriended, and toured with them: I dare say I've lived that lifestyle to a certain extent-maybe at times too a large extent; I understand Sal Paradise, maybe too much. His dichotomy has been my own: the balance between the need for freedom, with the need for stability...and a home. I've balanced between being a wandering Gypsy and being in a controlled, safe environment for 20 years-I understand Sal; when you have one, you crave the other.
Which makes this next year a very inetresting experiment. Each new location has been an experiement of one kind or another-Boston was, as was NYC, as was the West-all experiments in understanding both freedom and stability-the need for one, and the want of the other. I've lived the life of Sal Paradise and know it too well; I've also had, for better or for worse, many-a Dean Moriarty at my side. I understand them.

It also makes me understand my parents more. I understand what they were keeping pure and what they were fighting against. My sister called my mother "Victorian"; it's amazing how prophetic, and poetic, that title was. They felt the need to preserve-we felt the need to progress.
So, dear friend, my "Road" this time is Russia, the Balkans, the Baltics, Central Europe, the Caucauses, Central Asia, etc. What will I find this time? And more importantly, what it is it that I'm actually looking for? Adventure or Stability...or both? Maybe Illumination...but that is the subject of another pontification...maybe later...

Your ever devoted world traveller,

Demetrius