Representation

I was very receptive of Spector's point regarding how the physical process of reading a book is inherently related to the type of knowledge produced. I agree that there exists an opportunity for a specific type of experience at each turn of the page that is different from the sum of the words contained in a particular book. My most intimate experience with this phenomenon occurred with Jack Kerouac's Lonesome Traveler.

This is a book that has traveled the world with me. First, I believe it is a book that is best understood when read on the road, as Kerouac himself has explained. What's more, in reading the book countless times across three continents, the book has proven itself as a translator of sorts, offering an empathetic representation of the timeless types of people and events one finds when traveling.

I was initially turned on to Kerouac as an antidote to travel fever. I was 18, and had yet to drop out of college to begin my travels. I read his canon voraciously, and with much enjoyment; however, it was not until I purchased Lonesome Traveler at age 21 in Rome, Italy that I felt I truly began to understand the experience for which Kerouac worked so hard to craft for his readers.

Since then I have found that, whether it was while waiting for a ride when hitchhiking in southern France, or stumbling off a Greyhound in Madison, Wisconsin looking for a 4:00 AM cup of coffee, Lonesome Traveler is a book that provides a knowing perspective on the wild, disparate, and impermanent circumstances in which we conduct our lives. In my opinion, the process of traveling serves to amplify these circumstances, and therefore is a particularly poignant environment in which to reflect of these circumstances. For those interested in contextualizing their experiences beyond contemporary life, Lonesome Traveler offers that opportunity.

In summary, Lonesome Traveler is a book with which I have developed a special relationship. It is a book which, when read while traveling, offers an experience that is not immediately available when read in another circumstance. An integral component of that experience is the opportunity it provides readers to understand themselves and others in a context grander than any particular moment in time.