This is the meaning of On the Road. What does its narrator, Sal Paradise, tell us? “The only people who matter to me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, who desire everything at the same time, those who never yawn or say common things, but burn, burn, burn like those fabulous yellow Roman candles...” This quest for affirmation brings Sal on the road to Denver and San Francisco, Los Angeles, Texas, and Mexico, sometimes with Dean Moriarty, his hero-saint friend, sometimes alone.

There are parts of On the Road where the writing is so beautiful that it almost takes your breath away. There is the description of a road trip across the country that resembles much a train journey narrated by Thomas Wolfe in Of Time and the River. There are details of a trip to Mexico (and an interlude in a Mexican brothel) that are both terrifying, tender, and funny. And finally, there is a description of jazz that has no equal in American fiction, both for its insight and for its style and masterful technique.

On the Road is a great novel!