Rewind the videotape to 1968. Jack Kerouac, author of On the Road, appears (seemingly drunk) on William F. Buckley’s “Firing Line.” As you’ll see, this meeting of the Beat and the father of modern American conservatism is not exactly filled with substance. But the clip has some historical curiosity. You can find more Kerouac video and audio on the Digital Beat web site.
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The Kerouac tape is difficult to watch. By that time, Kerouac’s alcoholism was epic and in his addled attempt to defend his vision against the younger generation’s transmogrification of it his political views, such as they were, astonishingly resembled Buckley’s much more than Vidal’s.
That is fantastic. Kerouac looks far more conservative in appearance than I expected. And I can’t really tell that he’s drunk. But getting William F. Buckley to threaten you with violence — that’s something.
Woops, that’s a young Gore Vidal in the youtube video. I just looked at the link, and Kerouac is drunk and much closer to what I expected!
This is NOT the Jack Kerouac tape–this is Gore Vidal. Where is the Kerouac tape???????????????????
Very nice!