Kerouac disowning "beat generation"?

It should also be remembered that Kerouac was a fully fledged alcoholic

for the last 10 years of his life. He would get up every morning, and
first thing reach for a drink. He was drunk pretty much all the time
for the last few years, and as anyone who drinks a lot knows, it brings

out the contrary in one, to say the least. He was certainly a
complicated individual, but one facet of his personality was a
non-conformist streak a mile wide. A lot of his vitriol, I think, can
be put down to being drunk, and his natural tendency to kick against
the pricks. What was non-conformism in the 50´s had become conformism
amongst large parts of American youth by the 60´s. Kerouac felt
ambivalent about this, particularly as he kept being informed that he
was partly responsible. Look at all the times he moved house in his
last few years, largely due to damaged individuals getting his address
and then bothering him at all times of the day and night, looking for
"kicks" with "the king of the beats". He goes so far as to describe
some young acolytes who turned up at his house with "Dharma Bums"
written on their jackets as "pathetic" in Big Sur. The Kerouac who did
all those things in his late 20´s was not the same man in his 40´s -
but which of us is? Would you like half the things you thought
20 years ago to be held up to the public now?

Solzhi wrote:
> It should also be remembered that Kerouac was a fully fledged alcoholic
>
> for the last 10 years of his life. He would get up every morning, and
> first thing reach for a drink. He was drunk pretty much all the time
> for the last few years, and as anyone who drinks a lot knows, it brings
>
> out the contrary in one, to say the least. He was certainly a
> complicated individual, but one facet of his personality was a
> non-conformist streak a mile wide. A lot of his vitriol, I think, can
> be put down to being drunk, and his natural tendency to kick against
> the pricks. What was non-conformism in the 50´s had become conformism
> amongst large parts of American youth by the 60´s. Kerouac felt
> ambivalent about this, particularly as he kept being informed that he
> was partly responsible. Look at all the times he moved house in his
> last few years, largely due to damaged individuals getting his address
> and then bothering him at all times of the day and night, looking for
> "kicks" with "the king of the beats". He goes so far as to describe
> some young acolytes who turned up at his house with "Dharma Bums"
> written on their jackets as "pathetic" in Big Sur. The Kerouac who did
> all those things in his late 20´s was not the same man in his 40´s -
> but which of us is? Would you like half the things you thought
> 20 years ago to be held up to the public now?

Thing is, Jack didn't have a chance to look back on his life...to
reflect. Dead at age 47.
Patriotic? Yes, in the sense that he revered the land for which the
flag is a symbol not the reality. Is it patriotic to jail a flag burner
while clear cutting the forests and polluting the land and water?
Theres a passage in Dharma Bums when he speaks of Jaffy Ryder going his
own way, thinking his own thoughts while America is glued to the TV.