WRITERS UNDER THE INFLUENCE: Jack Kerouac, Philip K. Dick & Amphetamines (Ch 5)
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Jack Kerouac, author of On the Road, and Philip K. Dick, author of The Man in the High Castle, used amphetamines for their writing the way athletes use performance enhancers. Though already talented, a fistful of these so-called ‘smart’ pills helped both men focus their energies and sharpen their minds, and could keep them powering through legendary typing marathons that lasted weeks. But the pharmacological assistance came at a price. The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long. Jack died at 47 and Philip died at 53. Their lives were a mess by the end. They were a pair of broke, unhealthy, multi-divorcees—Jack a grumpy alcoholic living with his mother; Phil a paranoid recluse toeing the line between madman and genius. Neither lived long enough to see how lasting their legacies would come to be. Like a literary James Dean, Jack Kerouac remains a familiar figure, and his books and connection to the Beat Generation are recognisable even to those who don’t read. Philip K. Dick has been dead almost four decades but his grip on western culture holds fast and his influence is detectable almost everywhere you look; those who have never read his books have almost certainly seen one of the many films adapted from his stories.
CREDITS -
This episode was written and narrated by Key Whiskey. Special thanks to Jarryd Doyle for editing the audio and voicing Jack Kerouac, Philip K. Dick, and other voices featured throughout.
Jack Kerouac 1922-1969
Philip K. Dick 1928-1982
READ -
Now you know the writers, get to know their writing…
Jack Kerouac
The Town and the City (1950); On the Road (1957); The Dharma Bums (1958); The Subterraneans (1958); Big Sur (1962); Desolation Angels (1965); Vanity of Duluoz (1968).
Philip K. Dick
Solar Lottery (1955); Time Out of Joint (1959); The Man in the High Castle (1962); Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968); Ubik (1969); Flow My Tears, the Policeman Said (1974); A Scanner Darkly (1977); VALIS (1981); The Man Whose Teeth Were All Exactly Alike (1984).
WATCH -
Too lazy to read? Here are the film adaptations.
Jack Kerouac
The Subterraneans (1960) - starring George Peppard; On the Road (2013) - starring Sam Riley; Big Sur (2013) - starring Josh Lucas.
Philip K. Dick
Blade Runner (1982) - starring Harrison Ford; Total Recall (1990) - starring Arnold Schwarzenegger; Minority Report (2002) - starring Tom Cruise; A Scanner Darkly (2006) - starring Keanu Reeves; The Adjustment Bureau (2011) - starring Matt Damon; The Man in the High Castle (2015-2019) - starring Rufus Sewell; Electric Dreams (2017-) - starring Steve Buscemi.
SOURCES -
Amphetamines
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Bhuiyan, Aiza. ‘The History of Amphetamines: A Story of Abuse and Stigmatization’. The Observer, 23 Aug. 2018, https://fordhamobserver.com/35325/sh/the-history-of-amphetamines-a-story-of-abuse-and-stigmatization/.
Chudler, Eric H. ’Amphetamines’. Neuroscience For Kids, https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/neurok.html.
Durham, Brook. ‘Benzedrine Sulphate used in War Operations’. Laurier Military History Archive, 10 Nov. 2014, http://lmharchive.ca/benzedrine-sulphate-used-in-war-operations-by-brook-durham/.
Faraci, Devin. ‘The Annotated Mad Men: Uppers, Bennies, Black Beauties, Speed’. Birth. Movies. Death., 24 May 2013, https://birthmoviesdeath.com/2013/05/24/the-annotated-mad-men-uppers-bennies-black-beauties-speed.
Healy, David. ‘Amphetamine’s Missing History’. Science History Institute, 6 Jun. 2009, https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/magazine/amphetamines-missing-history.
Herffernan, Virginia. ‘The Persistent Myth of Speed and “Productivity”’. Wired, 20 Aug. 2018, https://www.wired.com/story/the-persistent-myth-of-speed-and-productivity/.
Hicks, Jesse. ‘Fast Times: The Life, Death, and Rebirth of Amphetamine’. Science History Institute, 14 Apr. 2012, https://www.sciencehistory.org/distillations/fast-times-the-life-death-and-rebirth-of-amphetamine.
Jacobs, Alan. ‘The Lost World of Benzedrine’. The Atlantic, 15 Apr. 2012, https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/04/the-lost-world-of-benzedrine/255904/.
Lam, Bourree. ‘Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger: Working on Amphetamines’. The Atlantic, 5 Mar. 2015, https://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2015/03/harder-better-faster-stronger-getting-the-job-done-with-amphetamines/386740/.
McBee, Susanna. ‘Diet Pills’. Life, vol. 64, no. 4, 26 Jan. 1968, pp. 22-28.
’Methamphetamine’. Drug Timelines: From Birth to Epidemic, https://drugabuse.com/featured/drug-timeline-interactive/meth.php.
Rasmussen, Nicolas. ‘America’s First Amphetamine Epidemic 1929-1971’. American Journal of Public Health, Jun. 2008, vol. 98, no. 6, https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2377281/.
Rasmussen, Nicolas. ‘How A Generation of “Beat” Writers Burnt Out on Speed’. The Fix, 22 Sep. 2011, https://www.thefix.com/content/beat-poets-speed5123.
Szalavitz, Maia. ‘The Mystery of the Terrifying Xanax Resurgence in America’. Vice, 29 Mar. 2018, https://www.vice.com/en_au/article/paxg39/the-mystery-of-the-terrifying-xanax-resurgence-in-america.
Weisberger, Mindy. ‘Nazis Dosed Soldiers with Performance-Boosting “Superdrug”’. Live Science, 25 Jun. 2019, https://www.livescience.com/65788-world-war-ii-nazis-methamphetamines.html.
Jack Kerouac
Amburn, Ellis. Subterranean Kerouac: The Hidden Life of Jack Kerouac, St. Martin’s Press, New York.
Asher, Levi. ‘Columbia: The Birthplace of the Beat Movement’. Literary Kicks, 28 Jul. 1994, https://www.litkicks.com/Columbia.
Barnett, David. ‘Misremembering Jack Kerouac’. The Guardian, 21 Oct. 2009, https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2009/oct/21/jack-kerouac.
Brunelle, Roger. ‘Jack Kerouac’. Lowell National Historical Park, 20 Dec. 2018, https://www.nps.gov/lowe/learn/historyculture/kerouac.htm.
Burner, David. ‘The Rucksack Revolution’. Making Peace with the 60s, Princeton University Press, Princeton, NJ., 1996.
Campbell, James. ‘Obituary: Herbert Huncke’. The Independent, 16 Aug. 1996, https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-herbert-huncke-1309913.html.
Carlise, Chuck. ‘The Beat Movement’. Oxford Research Encyclopaedia of Literature, Jul. 2017, https://oxfordre.com/literature/view/10.1093/acrefore/9780190201098.001.0001/acrefore-9780190201098-e-664.
Collins, Ronald K. L. & Skover, David M. Mania: The Story of the Outraged and the Outrageous, Top Five Books, Oak Park, Ill., 2013.
D’Orso, Mike. ‘Saturday’s Hero: A Beat’. Sports Illustrated, 23 Oct. 1989, https://vault.si.com/vault/1989/10/23/saturdays-hero-a-beat.
Everett-Green, Robert. ‘Author Jack Kerouac’s truest language was the French of his boyhood’. The Globe and Mail, 7 Oct. 2016, https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/author-jack-kerouacs-truest-language-was-french-of-his-boyhood/article32297222/.
Gifford, Barry & Lee, Lawrence. Jack’s Book: An Oral Biography of Jack Kerouac, St. Martin’s Press, New York, 1978.
Grace, Nancy McCampbell. ‘A White Man in Love: A Study of Race, Gender, Class, and Ethnicity in Jack Kerouac's “Maggie Cassidy”, “The Subterraneans”, and “Tristessa”.’ College Literature, vol. 27, no. 1, 2000, pp. 39–62. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/25112495.
Groom, Nick. ‘The Road of Excess: a history of writers on drugs by Marcus Boon’. The Independent, 24 Apr. 2003, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/reviews/the-road-of-excess-a-history-of-writers-on-drugs-by-marcus-boon-116486.html.
Hartmann, Cristina. ‘The Truth Behind the Famous Novels Written in a Creative Frenzy’. Medium, 21 Mar. 2017, https://medium.com/@cmmhartmann/the-truth-behind-the-famous-novels-written-in-a-creative-frenzy-df452ac5f607.
’Jack Kerouac’. Biography.com, 2 Apr. 2014, https://www.biography.com/writer/jack-kerouac.
Jack during his short-lived football scholarship days at Columbia University.
Kimball, George. ‘A Beatnik take on sex and violence’. The Irish Times, 8 Nov. 2008, https://www.irishtimes.com/news/a-beatnik-take-on-sex-and-violence-1.907508.
King, David A. ‘Discovering the Catholic in Jack Kerouac, author of the Beat Generation’. The Georgia Bulletin, 23 Jan. 2014, https://georgiabulletin.org/commentary/2014/01/discovering-the-catholic-in-jack-kerouac-author-of-the-beat-generation/.
Lawrence White, D’Ann. ‘St. Pete Bar Frequented By Jack Kerouac Celebrates 50 Years’. Patch, 10 Aug. 2019, https://patch.com/florida/stpete/st-pete-bar-frequented-jack-kerouac-celebrates-50-years.
Maher, Paul. Kerouac: The Definitive Biography, Taylor Trade Publications, Lanham, MD., 2004.
McCrum, Robert. ‘The 100 best novels: No 76 - On the Road by Jack Kerouac (1957)’. The Guardian, 2 Mar. 2015, https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/mar/02/100-best-novels-no-76-on-the-road-jack-kerouac
McKee, Jenn. Jack Kerouac, Info Base Learning, New York, 2013.
Miles, Barry. Kerouac: King of the Beats, Virgin Publishing, London, 1998.
Millstein, Gilbert. ‘Books of the Times’. The New York Times, 5 Sep. 1957, https://archive.nytimes.com/www.nytimes.com/books/97/09/07/home/kerouac-roadglowing.html.
Moore, Judith. ‘Anybody Who Saw Jan Kerouac Knew She Was Jack’s Daughter’. San Diego Reader, 26 Jun. 1997, https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/1997/jun/26/anybody-who-saw-jan-kerouac-knew-she-was-jacks-dau/.
Scheffler, Ian. ‘Football and the Fall of Jack Kerouac’. The New Yorker, 6 Sep. 2013, https://www.newyorker.com/sports/sporting-scene/football-and-the-fall-of-jack-kerouac.
’The New York Times gives “On the Road” a rave review’. History.com, 13 Nov. 2009, https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-new-york-times-gives-on-the-road-a-rave-review.
Theado, Matt. Understanding Jack Kerouac, University of South Carolina Press, Columbia, SC., 2000.
Ulin, David L. ‘Philip K. Dick would have been 86 today: Some thoughts on his legacy’. Los Angeles Times, 16 Dec. 2014, https://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-philip-k-dick-at-86-some-thoughts-on-his-legacy-20141215-story.html.
Verity, Michael. ‘Jazz Music History by Decade: 1940 to 1950’. LiveAbout, 12 Mar. 2019, https://www.liveabout.com/jazz-by-decade-1940-1950-2039543.
Walsh, John. ‘The young generation: Burroughs and Kerouac - an unpublished collaboration’. The Independent, 3 Nov. 2008, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/features/the-young-generation-burroughs-and-kerouac-an-unpublished-collaboration-986188.html.
Ward Bieterman, Patricia. ‘A Tribute to Jack Kerouac and the Beat Generation’. Los Angeles Times, 7 Mar. 1996, https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-03-07-ca-44107-story.html.
Watson, Steven. ‘Beat Bios: Jack Kerouac’. Waiting For The Sun, 1998, http://archives.waiting-forthe-sun.net/Pages/ArtisticInfluences/Beats/BeatBios/kerouac_bio.html.
Whiting, Sam. ‘John Sampas, Kerouac estate guardian, dies at 84’. SF Gate, 21 Mar. 2017, https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/John-Sampas-Kerouac-estate-guardian-dies-at-84-11004135.php.
Wilk, Jocelyn. ‘Jack Kerouac Played Football Here!’ Columbia University Archives, 29 Oct. 2019, https://blogs.cul.columbia.edu/rbml/2019/10/29/jack-kerouac-played-football-here/.
Wilma, David. ‘Author Jack Kerouac spends 63 days as a fire lookout on Desolation Peak in the summer of 1956’. The Free Encyclopaedia of Washington State History, 18 Dec. 2006, https://www.historylink.org/File/8034.
Jack Kerouac at 21, Naval Reserve Enlistment photograph.
Philip K. Dick
Arnold, Kyle. ‘Philip K. Dick’s Divine, Amphetamine-Fueled Madness’. AlterNet, 24 Jun. 2016, https://www.alternet.org/2016/06/philip-k-dicks-divine-amphetamine-fueled-madness/.
Arnold, Kyle. ‘On another planet’. The Independent, 24 Jun. 2016, https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/on-another-planet-a7095781.html.
Arnold, Kyle. ‘Was Philip K. Dick A Madman or a Mystic?’ Publishers Weekly, 8 Jul. 2016, https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/tip-sheet/article/70857-was-philip-k-dick-a-madman-or-a-mystic.html.
’Biography’. Philip K. Dick, https://philipdick.com/biography/.
Bitsoli, Stephen. ‘Philip K. Dick’s High Life’. The Fix, 13 Oct. 2017, https://www.thefix.com/philip-k-dick-s-high-life.
Bright, Robert. ‘Once More With Feeling: Philip K Dick and Blade Runner’. The Quietus, 6 Oct. 2017, https://thequietus.com/articles/23343-blade-runner-philip-k-dick-article.
Britt, Ryan. ‘Ursula K. Le Guin Encourages Stealing, Went to High School With Philip K. Dick’. Tor, 1 Oct. 2013, https://www.tor.com/2013/10/01/ursula-k-le-guin-encourages-stealing-went-to-high-school-with-philip-k-dick/.
’Chapter 96: Assembly Concurrent Resolution No. 98—Relative to commending J. Edgar Dick’. Statutes of California, Volume 3, 1967, pp. 4669-4670, https://books.google.com.au/books?id=RIRKAQAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=dick&f=false.
Collis, Clark. ‘Back to the future.’ The Guardian, 29 Jun. 2002, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2002/jun/29/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.philipkdick.
Corliss, Richard. ‘That Old Feeling: You Know Dick’. Time, 12 Jan. 2004, http://content.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,575667-1,00.html.
Dick, Anne R. The Search for Philip K. Dick, Tachyon Publications, San Francisco, 1995.
Dick, Philip K. Philip K. Dick: The Last Interview: and Other Conversations, edited by David Streitfeld, Melville House, London, 2015.
Gopnik, Adam. ‘Blows Against the Empire’. The New Yorker, 13 Aug. 2007, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/08/20/blows-against-the-empire.
Hollander, Frank. ‘The First of Five: The Mystery of Jeannette Marlin’. PKD Otaku, no. 26, Oct. 2012, http://www.philipkdickfans.com/mirror/journals/pkd-otaku/pkd-otaku26.pdf.
’Interview with Anne Mini’. Dickien, Feb. 2008, http://www.dickien.fr/dossiers/annemini/interview_anne_mini_dick.html.
Lanchester, John. ‘High Style’. The New Yorker, 30 Dec. 2002, https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2003/01/06/high-style-3.
Lethem, Jonathan & Jackson, Pamela. ‘Introduction and Editor’s Note’ in Dick, Philip K. The Exegesis of Philip K Dick, Hachette, London, 2012.
Philip with Ridley Scott, Blade Runner director.
Margot, Joel. ‘Philip K. Dick’. Gnosis, 1993, http://gnosis.org/pkd.FAQ.bio.html.
O’Hara, Helen. ‘Philip K. Dick: The Man And His Movies’. Empire, 3 Mar. 2011, https://www.empireonline.com/movies/features/philip-k-dick-man-movies/.
Palmer, Christopher. Philip K. Dick: Exhilaration and Terror of the Postmodern, Liverpool University Press, Liverpool, 2003.
Parris, Mattew, host. ‘Michael Sheen on Philip K. Dick’. Great Lives, BBC, 6 Dec. 2011, https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b017wyyc.
Peake, Anthony. A Life of Philip K. Dick: The Man Who Remembered The Future, Arcturus Publishing, London, 2013.
’Philip K. Dick’. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 27 Feb. 2020, https://www.britannica.com/biography/Philip-K-Dick.
’Philip K. Dick’. Famous Authors, https://www.famousauthors.org/philip-k-dick.
’Philip K. Dick, Won Awards For Science-Fiction Works’. New York Times, 3 Mar. 1982, https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1982/03/03/228367.html?pageNumber=22.
Purser-Hallard, Philip. ‘The drugs did work’. The Guardian, 12 Aug. 2006, https://www.theguardian.com/film/2006/aug/12/sciencefictionfantasyandhorror.philipkdick.
Rollings, Grant. ‘Tortured Blade Runner genius Philip K. Dick hated babies, once thought aliens control him and tried to kill two wives’. The Sun, 21 Sep. 2017, https://www.thesun.co.uk/tvandshowbiz/4511766/blade-runner-philip-k-dick-blade-runner-electric/.
Rose, Frank. ‘The Second Coming of Philip K. Dick’. Wired, 1 Dec. 2003, https://www.wired.com/2003/12/philip/.
Vest, Jason P. ‘Reviews’. Journal of the Fantastic in the Arts, vol. 18, no. 3 (71), 2007, pp. 425–430. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/24351017.
Vitale, Joe. ‘An Interview With America’s Most Brilliant Science-Fiction Writer (Philip K. Dick)’. The Aquarian, 11 Oct. 1978, http://pkdotaku.gezeitenreiter.de/allissues/pkd-otaku04.pdf.
Williams, Paul. ‘The True Stories of Philip K. Dick’. Rolling Stone, 6 Nov. 1975, www.philipkdickfans.com/mirror/articles/1974_Rolling_Stone.pdf.
Youngquist, Paul. ‘Score, Scan, Schiz: Dick on Drugs.’ Cultural Critique, no. 44, 2000, pp. 84–110. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/1354603.
Young Philip K. Dick.
MUSIC -
The music used in this episode, with the exception of the intro and outro, was sourced from royalty-free music libraries such as the Free Music Archive and YouTube’s Audio Library. The intro features an excerpt from Margaret Fielding’s ‘I Could Write a Book’. The outro includes an excerpt from Artie Shaw and His Orchestra’s ‘I Could Write a Book’.
Discography
“Dirt Rhodes” by Kevin MacLeod
“Blackbottom Stomp” by Jelly Roll Morton
“Stars and Stripes Forever” by The U.S. Army Band
“Happy-Go-Lively” by Ren and Stimpy Soundtrack
“Beatnik Fly” by Fenderman
“Hot Hot Coffee” by Freedom Trail Studio
“You Go To My Head (Instrumental)” by Chet Baker
“OLPC (KlankBeeld)” by Marco Raaphorst
“Double You” by The Mini Vandals
“Sincerely” by The Moonglows
“Greaser” by Track Tribe
“Carried” by Lauren Duski
“Faster Does It” by Kevin MacLeod
“Vanagon” by Podington Bear
“Paris” by Dirty Beaches
“The Insider Theme” by The Insider
“1940s Slow Dance” by Doug Maxwell/Media Right Productions
“Cold Kills” by MK2
“Sulking” by William Rosati
“Almost A Year Ago” by John Deley and the 41 Players
“Feel It All Around” by Washed Out
“Beat-nik” by J.M. Van Eaton
“Grant Green” by Josh Lippi & The Overtimers
“Bebop” by Charlie Parker
“Falling and Walking” by Unheard Music Concepts
“Empty Bottle, Empty Bed” by The Mini Vandals
“Rollin Through Osaka” by MK2
“Gagool” by Kevin MacLeod
“Orbit” by Corbyn Kites
“Nail Biter” by Riot
“Balcarabic Chicken” by Quantum Jazz
“Take Your Time” by Dan Lebowitz
“I Am Running Down the Long Hallway of Viewmont Elementary” by Chris Zabriskie
“Weirder Stuff” by Geographer
“Singles Awareness” by G-Row
“Cycles” by Density & Time
“Au coin de la rue (KlankBeeld)” by Marco Raaphorst
“Fire Dancer” by Reed Mathis
“Totally Looped” by Audionautrix
“New Horizons” by Futuremono
“Covert Affair” by Kevin MacLeod
“Lost & Found” by Dan Lebowitz
“Wonder Cycle” by Chris Zabriskie
“Relapse” by White Hex
“Beyond the Lows” by The Whole Other
“Stormy Moods Orchestra” by Apache Tomcat
“Lost Memories” by Audraulic
“March of the Mind” by Kevin MacLeod
“The 49th Street Galleria” by Chris Zabriskie
“Val Holla” by Geographer
“I Am a Man Who Will Fight for Your Honor” by Chris Zabriskie
Other Audio
A clip from The Beatniks (1960) trailer
A clip from the Operation Abolition (1962) film produced by the House Committee on Un-American Activities (HUAC)
A clip from the HUAC Hollywood Hearings
A clip from the Blade Runner (1982) trailer
(L-R) Neal Cassady and Jack Kerouac, best mates.
Philip with his third wife, Anne R. Dick.