Paul Marion – författare

Before Jack Kerouac expressed the spirit of a generation in his 1957 classic On the Road, he spent years figuring out how he wanted to live and, above all, learning how to write.

Atop an Underwood brings together more than sixty previously unpublished works that Kerouac wrote before he was twenty-two, ranging from stories and poems to plays and parts of novels, including an excerpt from his 1943 merchant marine novel, The Sea Is My Brother. These writings reveal what Kerouac was thinking, doing, and dreaming during his formative years and reflect his primary literary influences. Listeners will also find in these works the source of Kerouac’s spontaneous prose style.

Uncovering a fascinating missing link in Kerouac’s development as a writer, Atop an Underwood is essential listening for Kerouac fans, scholars, and critics.

Prize-winning prose and poetry by alumni and 

students of University College Cork in Ireland

and University of Massachusetts, Lowell, in the

U.S. This collection of stories, essays, and poems by emerging and established writers is

introduced by U.S. Ambassador to Ireland

Claire Cronin and the Republic of Ireland's 

Ambassador to the U.S. David Mulhall. Defined

broadly, the theme of the book is learning and education, both formal and informal as described by the authors. Both universities are critical to their home communities, and the selections showcase the talent on campus now and among the graduates of the schools. The writers investigate their respective locales and document memorable learning experiences in a wide array of situations, from sailing voyages to strife-torn countries and among the familiar people in their lives as well as characters imganied. 

Uncovering a fascinating missing link in Kerouac''s development as a writer, Atop an Underwood is essential reading for Kerouac fans, scholars, and critics.