Why Jack Kerouac Isn’t Taught

You know, I often wondered why the Modern Language Association never featured panels on him. An undergraduate from the University of Pittsburgh may have unearthed the reason. “In a 1968 episode of William F. Buckley Jr.’s Firing Line, my favorite author, Jack Kerouac, discussed his faith and writing career with Buckley while drunk out of his wits, which was hardly unusual for him,”Marlo Safi said at an Intercollegiate Studies Institute dinner. “Despite his slurred words, he said several things of substance, one quote of which has stuck with me.”

“While describing to Buckley his identity as a Catholic, a patriot, and a Beatnik, he said that he believes in ‘order, tenderness, and piety.'” Well, those are three qualities it is hard to find on campuses.

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