Chronology: 1943

1943

26 January – Kerouac types prose that begins “One night, returning from work in the casual, squalid atmosphere of the railroad yards, warehouses, switch- towers, garages . . .”

28 January – Kerouac types a 2-page story titled “The Mystery … by Jack Kerouac.”

1 February – Kerouac applies for transfer to V5 status with Naval Reserve.

5 February – Writes a 3-page revised typescript of “Doctor Sax by Jack Kerouac (from “The Private Papers of Kerouac.”) Signed “Adolphus Asher Ghoulens / 3 a.m. / February 5, 1943.” This section will eventually be incorporated into the published novel, Doctor Sax (1959).

February: Kerouac writes Sebastian Sampas after arriving home from his job parking cars at the Hotel Garage on Middlesex Street, Lowell, Massachusetts at 2 A.M. and using his typewriter for the first time in a week. He undertakes the remainder of th eletter in stream-of-consciousness “for the Sake of Informality.” Kerouac is alarmed that Sebastian was suffering from haemophelia when he woke in his bed and was bleeding from his jaw, a factor that may have contirbuted to his death at Anzio.

15 February – Kerouac writes Sebastian Sampas in receipt of his “stirring recording” he heard his mother playing as he was waking. Sampas was quoting from Thomas Wolfe: “My mother was weeping, Sam. When you quoted Wolfe, she thought you were sounding your own death-knell; she said “The poor little kid..oh! this is an awful war.” And she wept for you. I hope this will convince you that my mother is essentially a great woman, and that whatever rancor she may have held against you was not rancor, but something reflected from my father’s profound theories on Sebastian Sampas.” Kerouac writes a note titled “Brother” to which he explains that the writing of his new sea-based novel will require “exceeding craft.” He theorizes that the ongoing war has created a new demand on modern novelists, and that is a correlation between the war on Fascism and democracy. His last notes state: “The writing of this little novel will require exceeding craft. I believe this to be true because modern taste in this war year of 1943 demands but one thing from its novelists – correlation of democracy and the war against Fascism, timely and pro-democratic issues dealing with change (change as symbolized by the foundation of the United Nations), and above all, the extension, improvisation, and rationalization of the modern spirit. Kerouac decides to “write in complete sincerity and trust in my own knowledge of life.”

16 February – Kerouac writes Sebastian Sampas: “Stop chanting “you never write!” I don’t write as often as you do, but I write enormous documents and (2) I have to go to work every day, a ten-hour job, and there is no typewriter there. I write as much as I can, but when I have nothing to say, I don’t write. What is there to say? Right now, covered with the red fever of a Lloyd McHarg, wearing black spectacles, I look like the original Pessimist, Cynic, and sardonic Mystic himself. I have to report for Pre-Flight examination in two days, but I think I shan’t be well by then, and will have to call them and arrange for a later appointment. All the same to me, I am not anxious to fight for freedom, I should rather enjoy it.”

Spring – Lucien Carr puts his head inside an oven for reasons unknown. He ends up in Cook County Hospital. After he is discharged, he and Ksmmerer decide to move to New York City. Burroughs follows them.

March – Kerouac begins to write Merchant Mariner, an 158-page handwritten novel.

21 March – Kerouac writes Sebastian Sampas from his home on Crawford Street, Lowell, Massachusetts. He is up early in the morning and will soon go to church. The rest of his family are away and he feels deeply alone: “I was alone. I don’t know why, Sam, but tell me: why did I begin to weep? I tell you I wept…my throat constricted, I sobbed, and tears went down my cheeks. I think it was the loneliness and the thought of humanity. I tell you, I had such a vision of humanity tonight, such a clear, powerful vision (tied up with me, my loved ones, and the human race), such a vision, I tell you, as I’d never expected to see, that it broke my heart and I cried.”

22 March – Kerouac reports for duty from Lowell to Newport, Rhode Island.

2 April – Kerouac admitted to sick list at boot camp training. He is transferred to U.S. Naval Hospital for medical examination.

7 April – Kerouac writes George J. Apostolos.

22 April – Kerouac receives a 5-page “love letter” from “Doris.”

2 May – Neal Cassady is arrested for “joyriding.”

3 May – Leo Kerouac writes Jack about his dissatisfaction over his current work and upcoming vacation time he will spend in New York City. He also asks for more details about Jack’s prognosis in naval hospital: “I wonder just why you were put in this way. Did you have trouble, or did you talk too much? I haven’t asked because I felt you wouldn’t tell me anyway. But I’m afraid you’ll be watched from now on and frankly I’m afraid they might frame you. You know these suck-asses from Washington, they’re always looking for publicity, and can cook up some funny dishes when they’ve mind to.”

May – Kerouac writes Cornelius “Connie” Murphy detailing the psychological evaluation he was given and why he was there: “In the first place, Connie, it was clearly and simply a matter of maladjustment with military life. On this, the psychiatrist and I seemed to be agreed upon in silence. I believe that if his queries had ended at that point, my diagnosis would have been psychoneurosis – a convenient conclusion which could have explained any number of idiosyncrasies in a protean personality. I was aware that he had reached this conclusion, and since reading the masterpiece by Conrad Tully, I can easily see on what grounds.”

11 May – Kerouac is diagnosed with Dementia Praecox by naval psychiatrists.

13 May – Leo Kerouac writes Jack that he is looking for work and his disappointment over moving to New York City and Gabrielle’s current work conditions: “Anyway, let me tell you that it won’t go on. I certainly won’t let your Mother be a slavey for Pete or anybody like him. I’ll find a way out, BUT, THIS IS THE LAST TIME. If you people don’t buckle down, and stop dreaming, and go about the business of life as it should, I warn you that I will wash my hands DRY of ALL of you.”

14 May – Allen Ginsberg is accepted at Columbia College in New York.

18 May – Kerouac is transferred to National Naval Medical Center (Bethesda, Maryland)

25 May – Neal Cassady is charged with grand theft auto.

26 May – Kerouac writes Sebastian Sampas.

June – Kerouac handwrites “My Generation, My World”: “Scene on a train: “‘My generation,’ he whispered, ‘is making the sacrifice.'”

2 June – J.J. Head, Senior Member of the Board of Medical Survey, signs a letter: “In accordance with paragraph 3423, Manual of the Medical Department, U.S. Navy, you, John Louis Kerouac, Apprentice Seaman, U.S. Naval Reserve, are informed that a Board of Medical Survey has found your present disability, Constitutional Psychopathic State, Schizoid Personality, #1543, to have existed prior to your reporting for active duty in the U.S. Naval Reserve, and was not aggravated by service conditions.” Kerouac signs the letter to concur with their findings.

18 June – Neal Cassady is sent to Forestry Camp, No. 3.

23 June – Allen Ginsberg graduates from Paterson, New Jersey’s East Side High School.

25 June – Kerouac writes a typescript titled “The Wound of Living” from the Washington D.C. Naval Hospital: “Living necessarily presupposes and promises hurt, degeneration, and death. Living is death . . .” He also includes his thoughts on being a New Englander.

28 June – Kerouac is honorably discharged (under Medical Conditions).

1 July – Allen Ginsberg begins classes at Columbia University in New York City. His intention is to obtain a law degree in order to become a labor lawyer.

2 July – Neal Cassady serves jail sentence and is sent to a juvenile forestry camp for six months.

6 July – Kerouac writes “Notes on ‘The Sea is my Brother’ aboard the S.S. George B. Weems (also dated July 25, 1943).

12 July – The whereabouts of Neal Cassady are unknown.

14 July – Kerouac types one-page draft of “Post-Fatalism – Bastille Day, July 14, 1949” ends “Human love can make it doubly certain that we are not alone. Thus I write of Wesley Martin.”

29 July – Kerouac types prose that begins: “I’ve often watched the way a cat lives.” He continues on second page: “Pertaining to the cat, et al.” He includes observations on cat and human behavior, includes references to Emerson and Shakespeare

14 August – Kerouac handwrites one-page of “The Moral Scoundrel.”

23 August – Allen Ginsberg records into a journal the lyrics to bawdy songs learned from Lucien Carr.

1 September – Kerouac types an essay titled “The Power of the Subconscious Mind” aboard the S.S. George B. Weems. He adds a holograph note: “Written at sea at night (heavy seas in Atlantic”) The piece includes description of dreams and begins: “Dreams are the product of the subconscious mind.”

18 September – Kerouac writes a letter to girlfriend, Edie Parker.

23 September – Kerouac types notes for “The Romanticist” aboard the S.S. George B. Weems in Liverpool, England.

October – Kerouac moves into the apartment of Edie Parker at 421 West 118th Street, New York City.

10 December – Allen Ginsberg meets Lucien Carr in his room at the Union Theological Seminary. Carr was playing records, Brahms’ Trio No.1, whereupon Ginsberg heard it and knocked on the door to introduce himself.

17 December – Allen Ginsberg writes his brother Eugene: “Saturday I plan to go down to Greenwich Village with friend of mine who claims he’s an “intellectual” (that has a musty flavor, hasn’t it) and know queer and interesting people there. I plan to get drunk Saturday evening if I can.”

18 December – Lucien Carr brings Allen Ginsberg to Greenwich Village to meet William S. Burroughs and David Kammerer.

27 December – Kerouac handwrites one-page of prose titled “Columbia University.”