Author guide

Jack Kerouac Books in Order

Jack Kerouac (1922–1969) was an American novelist, poet, essayist, and prose innovator. Best known for On the Road, he developed a spontaneous, jazz-influenced style and created a large body of autobiographical fiction known as the Duluoz Legend. His work also explored travel, Catholicism, Buddhism, jazz, friendship, memory, and American life.

fictionpoetrynonfictionmemoirdramacorrespondencegraphic literature

Catalog record updated August 25, 2026.

Jack Kerouac's Newest Book

The Buddhist Years: Collected Writings

collected-writings · First published 2025

A brand new volume of previously unpublished writings from the archives reflecting Jack Kerouac's Buddhist thinking From a young age Kerouac was a spiritual thinker and questioner, and he always considered himself a spiritual writer. Buddhism gave more meaning to Jack's work as a writer: he was working not for personal accomplishment and glory but for human betterment. And Buddhism justified his lifestyle: with its vision of the material world as empty and illusory, he was free to do what he wanted. This collection shows Jack at his earnest, soulful best. The writing is consistently and wonderfully Kerouacian: it is honest, reflective, heartfelt, and revealing, with great characterizations amid his self-exploration as he wrestles with his consciousness, desperate for belief.

Not sure where to begin?

Start with one of these

On the Road

The best-known entry point and the central road novel of Kerouac's work.

The Dharma Bums

An accessible companion to On the Road that foregrounds Kerouac's Buddhist interests and love of nature.

Read in order

Books by series

literary cycle · unfinished

The Duluoz Legend

Jack Kerouac's intended autobiographical literary cycle, conceived as one vast book. Its boundaries are interpretive, but these thirteen novels form the commonly recognized core.

Series guide →

1
Visions of Gerard
Book 1 · novel · 1963

Kerouac called this his "best most serious sad and true book yet." Kerouac weaves his later Buddhist tendencies into a memoir about his Franco-American Catholic childhood, focusing on the time leading up to the death of his beloved older…
2
Doctor Sax
Book 2 · novel · 1959

Doctor Sax (Doctor Sax: Faust Part Three) is a novel by Jack Kerouac published in 1959. Kerouac wrote it in 1952 while living with William S. Burroughs in Mexico City. The novel was written quickly in the improvisatory style Kerouac…
3
Maggie Cassidy
Book 3 · novel · 1959

Maggie Cassidy tells the story of Jean and Maggie, a couple of girls in love with the idea of being in love, looking ahead to marriage with hope and trepidation whilst trying to mature in a New England mill town in the 1950s.
4
Vanity of Duluoz
Book 4 · memoir-novel · 1968

Originally subtitled "An Adventurous Education, 1935-1946," Vanity of Duluoz is a key volume in Jack Kerouac's lifework, the series of autobiographical novels he referred to as The Legend of Duluoz. With the same tender humor and…
5
The Town and the City
Book 5 · novel · 1950

The Town and the City is a novel by Jack Kerouac, published by Harcourt Brace in 1950. This was the first major work published by Kerouac, who later became famous for his second novel On the Road (1957). Like all of Jack Kerouac's major…
6
On the Road
Book 6 · novel · 1957

A quintessential novel of America & the Beat Generation On the Road chronicles Jack Kerouac's years traveling the N. American continent with his friend Neal Cassady, "a sideburned hero of the snowy West." As "Sal Paradise" & "Dean…
7
Visions of Cody
Book 7 · novel · 1972

Written during 1951-52, this novel was an underground legend by the time it was finally published in 1972. Written in an experimental form, Kerouac created the ultimate account of his voyages with Neal Cassady, which he captured in a…
8
Tristessa
Book 8 · novella · 1960

Based on Jack Kerouac's own real-life love affair in Mexico City, this is the story of a man's ill-fated relationship with a woman he portrays with tenderness and dignity, even as her life spirals out of control "Each book by Jack Kerouac…
9
The Subterraneans
Book 9 · novel · 1958

The Subterraneans is a 1958 novella by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac. It is a semi-fictional account of his short romance with an African American woman named Alene Lee (1931-1991) in New York in 1953. In the novel she is renamed…
10
The Dharma Bums
Book 10 · novel · 1958

First published in 1958, a year after On the Road put the Beat Generation on the map, The Dharma Bums stands as one of Jack Kerouac’s most powerful and influential novels. The story focuses on two ebullient young Americans—mountaineer,…
11
Desolation Angels
Book 11 · novel · 1965

Desolation Angels is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac, which makes up part of his Duluoz Legend. It was published in 1965, but was written years earlier, around the time On the Road was in the…
12
Big Sur
Book 12 · novel · 1962

*Big Sur* is a novel written by *Jack Kerouac*, that was published in 1962. The books perspective is told from Kerouac's alter ego *Jack Dulouz*. The novel describes Kerouac's frustration that he has with his fame of being a writer, and…
13
Satori in Paris
Book 13 · novella · 1966

Satori is the Japanese word for sudden awakening or illumination. This autobiographical novel is an odyssey of discovery. It is also an insight into Kerouac's introduction to the eastern mysticism that was to become a lifelong passion.

Outside the series

Bibliography by category

Sort works

Novels (5)

Pic
novella · 1971
Orpheus Emerged
novella · 2000
Wake Up: A Life of the Buddha
nonfiction · 2008

Though raised Catholic, in the early 1950s Jack Kerouac became fascinated with Buddhism, an interest that would have a profound impact on his ideas of spirituality and their expression in his writing from Mexico City Blues to The Dharma…
The Sea Is My Brother
novel · 2011

"In the spring of 1943, during a stint in the Merchant Marine, twenty-one-year old Jack Kerouac set out to write his first novel. Working diligently day and night to complete it by hand, he titled it The Sea Is My Brother. Now, nearly…
The Haunted Life and Other Writings
novel-and-collected-writings · 2014

Nonfiction (3)

Book of Dreams
journal · 1961

Book of Dreams is a comprehensive dream journal published by Jack Kerouac in 1960 that covers all recorded dreams from 1952-1960. In it Kerouac tries to continue plot-lines with characters from his books as he sees them in his dreams.…
Windblown World: The Journals of Jack Kerouac 1947–1954
journal · 2004

Excerpts from his diaries chronicle a pivotal era in Kerouac's life, describing the creation of his first novel; his special friendships with Allen Ginsberg and Neal Cassady; and his own take on the events described in "On the Road."
Book of Sketches
journal-and-sketchbook · 2006

Short fiction (1)

Good Blonde and Others
essay-and-story-collection · 1993

Essays and speeches (3)

Lonesome Traveler
essay-collection · 1960

Contains poems which reveal both the endless diversity of human life and poets particular philosophy of self-fulfillment.
Kerouac At Bat
essay-collection · 2009
You're a Genius All the Time: Belief and Technique for Modern Prose
essays · 2009

Poetry (10)

Mexico City Blues
poetry-collection · 1959

A series of poems deals with music, life, religion, literature, dreams and mortality.
The Scripture of the Golden Eternity
prose-poetry · 1960

These classic Kerouac meditations, zen koans, and prose poems express the poet’s beatific quest for peace and joy through oneness with the universe.
Scattered Poems
poetry-collection · 1971

"Spontaneous poetry by the author of On the Road, gathered from underground and ephemeral publications; including "San Francisco Blues," the variant texts of "Pull My Daisy," and American haiku."--BOOK JACKET.
Trip Trap: Haiku on the Road
poetry-collection · 1973
Old Angel Midnight
prose-poetry · 1973

A sensory narrative poem capturing the rhythms of the universe and secrets of the subconscious with stunning linguistic dexterity from the author of On the Road A spontaneous writing project in the form of an extended prose poem, this…
Heaven and Other Poems
poetry-collection · 1977

A selection of Jack Kerouac's poems, plus his statements on poetics and letters to an editor.
Pomes All Sizes
poetry-collection · 1992
Book of Blues
poetry-collection · 1995
Book of Haikus
poetry-collection · 2003

A compact collection of more than 500 poems from Jack Kerouac that reveal a lesser known but important side of his literary legacy “Above all, a haiku must be very simple and free of all poetic trickery and make a little picture and yet…
San Francisco Blues
poetry-collection · 2007

Plays (1)

Pull My Daisy
screenplay · 1961

Collaborations (2)

And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their Tanks
co-authored-novel · 2009

In alternating chapters that reveal a nascent period in their development as two of the twentieth century's most influential writers, Beat Generation icons William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac's And the Hippos Were Boiled in Their…
Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg: The Letters
co-authored-correspondence · 2010

The first collection of letters between the two leading figures of the Beat movement Writers and cultural icons Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg are the most celebrated names of the Beat Generation, linked together not only by their shared…

Other (11)

Selected Letters 1940–1956
correspondence · 1995

The life and craft of Jack Kerouac are traced through some of his most personal and mesmerizing letters. Written between 1940, when he was a freshman in college, and 1956, immediately before his leap into celebrity with the publication of…
Atop an Underwood: Early Stories and Other Writings
collected-writings · 1999

An anthology of early stories by the poet of the Beat generation. Topics range from his time in Columbia University, from which he was expelled, to an excerpt from a novel which is based on his service in the merchant marine.
Selected Letters 1957–1969
correspondence · 1999
Door Wide Open
correspondence · 2000

"On a blind date in Greenwich Village set up by Allen Ginsberg, Jack Kerouac met Joyce Glassman. This unique book, containing the many letters the two of them wrote to each other whenever Jack was in transit, reveals a surprising side of…
Departed Angels
collected-writings · 2004
Beat Generation
graphic-work · 2005

A previously unpublished play written in the same year as On the Road incorporates such themes as tension, friendship, and karma and follows the experiences of a group of down-and-out laborer friends who discuss their lives over a bottle…
The Unknown Kerouac: Rare, Unpublished, and Newly Translated Writings
collected-writings · 2016
Desolation Peak: Collected Writings
collected-writings · 2022
Truth and Beautiful Meaningful Lies
collected-writings · 2023
Self-Portrait: Collected Writings
collected-writings · 2024
The Buddhist Years: Collected Writings
collected-writings · 2025

A brand new volume of previously unpublished writings from the archives reflecting Jack Kerouac's Buddhist thinking From a young age Kerouac was a spiritual thinker and questioner, and he always considered himself a spiritual writer.…

Frequently asked questions about Jack Kerouac

Was Jack Kerouac French Canadian?

Yes. He was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, to parents from Quebec and was a first-generation Franco-American; he spoke French exclusively until age seven.

Source: nps.gov (opens in a new tab)

What is Jack Kerouac best known for?

He is best known for On the Road (1957), the novel that made him a major public voice of the Beat Generation. The book draws partly on his cross-country travels and friendships.

Sources: loc.gov (opens in a new tab)uml.edu (opens in a new tab)

What made Jack Kerouac’s writing style distinctive?

Kerouac developed a lyrical, stream-of-consciousness style he called “spontaneous bop prosody,” shaped by the rhythms of bebop jazz. His work combined rapid, improvisational effects with sustained literary experimentation.

Sources: nps.gov (opens in a new tab)uml.edu (opens in a new tab)loa.org (opens in a new tab)

Who and what influenced Jack Kerouac?

His early influences included Thomas Wolfe, Walt Whitman, William Saroyan, and Henry David Thoreau. Jazz, Roman Catholicism, Buddhism, travel, and his friendships with other Beat writers also shaped his work.

Sources: nps.gov (opens in a new tab)poetryfoundation.org (opens in a new tab)jackkerouac.com (opens in a new tab)

Why is Jack Kerouac still important today?

Kerouac helped define the Beat Generation and influenced later writers, musicians, and filmmakers, including Bob Dylan, Tom Waits, Hunter S. Thompson, and Patti Smith. His continuing influence is reflected in literary study, archives, and institutions such as Naropa University’s Jack Kerouac School of Disembodied Poetics.

Sources: loc.gov (opens in a new tab)uml.edu (opens in a new tab)jackkerouac.com (opens in a new tab)