Jack Kerouac, The Town and the City

R. J. Ellis (University of Birmingham)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1950

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

The Town and the City traces the fortunes of the Martin family from 1935 to 1946, a period spanning the thirties depression, World War Two and its immediate aftermath. The Martin family is large: the father and mother (George and Marguerite) have eight children. In 1935 the eldest, Rose, is 21, Ruth is 18, Joe 17, Francis 15 (his twin, Julian, died when still “little”), Peter 13, Elizabeth 12, Charley 9 and Mickey 6. By the end of the novel these children are slightly over ten years older, except Charley (killed in Okinawa during World War Two), and are gathered together to bury George. The novel’s focus falls on just three of the children, Joe, Francis, and especially Peter. The fortunes of the mother and father are also …

Please log in to consult the article in its entirety. If you are a member (student of staff) of a subscribing institution (see List), you should be able to access the LE on campus directly (without the need to log in), and off-campus either via the institutional log in we offer, or via your institution's remote access facilities, or by creating a personal user account with your institutional email address. If you are not a member of a subscribing institution, you will need to purchase a personal subscription. For more information on how to subscribe as an individual user, please see under Individual Subcriptions.

1222 words

Citation: Ellis, R. J.. "The Town and the City". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 April 2007 [https://staging.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=7955, accessed 23 November 2024.]

Save this article