I have been on an internet chase today looking for the person or persons who might currently be in charge of the Kerouac Estate. For those of you who do not know Jack Kerouac (I’ve only read On the Road) I suggest that you flip over to Amazon.com right now and order one of his novels. Go. Just do it now. Finish reading this when you are done ordering. You can borrow The Legend of Duluoz from me, if you want. Just for some background information, Jack was pals with Allen Ginsberg, who helped him find a publisher for his novel, The Town and the City. This drew some attention to Jack. On the Road drew my attention to Jack. I’ve read a fair amount of poetry, but nothing has ever hit me as so natural, so musical, so organic and so human as this book.

Ok, so Jack Kerouac passed away in 1969. He was 47 (b. 1922-1969) and was survived by his third wife, Stella Sampas. Jack left his estate, then valued at less than $100, to his mother, Gabrielle. She passed away in 1972 and left Jack’s estate to Stella. John Sampas is the brother of Stella Sampas and has been in control of the Kerouac Estate since her death in 1990. There was an issue with this ownership in 1994 when Jack’s daughter Jan Kerouac took the Sampas family to court in hopes of taking back the Estate. There was the possibility that Gabrielle’s will had been forged and that the Sampas family did not rightfully own the Estate. There was also a letter found, supposedly written by Jack, saying that he wished for his Estate to be left in his blood line. Jan passed away in 1996 and in 1999 the case was thrown from court. In 2001, the Berg collection at the New York Public Library purchased the Estate. It was valued at $10 million, but the Library’s offer has not been revealed. Most of the articles from Jack’s Estate made it to the library. A few items had been sold over the years, including the 120-ft long typed manuscript of On the Road. It went for $2.4 million. This was not the first draft of on the road, as so many are lead to believe (and as I was told). Kerouac had several drafts of this book and carefully edited each page before typing the final draft. Regardless, typing a novel start to finish on one long taped-together piece of paper is a major feat and still would require the feverish and devoted state of mind in which I first pictured him.

And now the Kerouac Estate belongs to the NY Public Library where it is safe, catalogued, and available.

But who can give us permission to use Jack’s work?? I am physically mailing letters to both John Sampas and the President of the NYPL today. So when the mail-man lets me know, I will in turn tell you where to go.