Joyce Johnson

Joyce Johnson

Joyce Johnson , nee Joyce Glassman , (born September 27, 1935 ) is an American writer . She was Jack Kerouac's partner from 1957 to 1958 .

Joyce Johnson had gone to school with Elise Cowen , who was having an affair with the poet Allen Ginsberg , and Ginsberg hooked Joyce Johnson up with Kerouac in late 1956 by arranging a blind date for her and Jack Kerouac. The two were together until 1958.

"In principle, Kerouac's relationship with her was similar to that of his other girlfriends, but there were some differences: the relationship lasted longer, Johnson was more intellectual, and the intensity of her infatuation reflected the hunger of the next generation to celebrate On the Road ."

After the relationship ended, Joyce Johnson worked as an editor and wrote two novels. At the age of 47, she published her memoir Minor Characters , which gives an inside look at the Beat Generation from the perspective of a young woman . Above all, the book shows the personality of Jack Kerouac, who finds it difficult to cope with his fame, which has grown overnight. Minor Characters received the National Book Critics Circle Award in 1983 .

Works

• Come and join the dance . 1962. (under her maiden name Joyce Glassman)
• Bad Connections . 1978
• Minor characters . 1983. (German: Waiting for Kerouac: a life in the Beat Generation . Goldmann, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-442-72429-5 ; revised new edition under the title: "Wren: New Yorker memories", edition five, Graefelfing 2010 , ISBN 978-3-942374-03-3 )
• In the Night Cafe . 1989
• What Lisa Knew . 1990. (German: Lisa's secret: the shocking story of a family . Heyne, Munich 1994, ISBN 3-453-06404-6 )

Web links

• Literature by and about Joyce Johnson in the catalog of the German National Library
• The Smithsonian Institute: Remembering Jack Kerouac by Joyce Johnson, September 2007 (accessed May 31, 2014)