Writing Kerouac’s bookmovie: cinematic influence and imagery in the modern road novel

ABSTRACT

This essay adopts a creative-critical approach in looking at the influence of cinema on the modern road novel. It is in agreement with Mills, in her 2006 work titled The Road Story and the Rebel: Moving Through Film, Fiction, and Television, that the road novel can only be understood as part of a wider genre, the road story, which encompass a broader spectrum of mediums, most notably film. Through exploration of classic texts in the genre – Kerouac, Wolfe, et al. – it demonstrates the extent of cinematic influence on the road novel’s gestation and development. In particular, the essay examines Kerouac’s concept of ‘the bookmovie’ and seeks to establish just how prescient and prophetic this has become. In so doing, it will posit that the author’s own road novel, The Drive, fits the criteria of the ‘bookmovie’ through its integration of cinematic homage, as well as its deployment of filmic style and technique.

KEYWORDS:

• Road novels
• Kerouac
• bookmovie
• On the Road
• The Drive
• fiction

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributor

Tyler Keevil grew up in Vancouver and in his mid-20s moved to Wales, where he now lives. He is a short story author, novelist, and screenwriter, as well as a Senior Lecturer and the Undergraduate Course Leader in Creative Writing at the University of Gloucestershire. He has received numerous awards for his work, most notably the Wales Book of the Year People's Prize and the Writers' Trust of Canada Journey Prize. His new novel, No Good Brother, will be published by The Borough Press/HarperCollins in 2018.