Janet Michelle "Jan" Kerouac (February 16, 1952 – June 5, 1996) was an American writer and the only child of Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac and Joan Haverty Kerouac.
Early life and career
Janet Michelle Kerouac was born a few months after her parents separated. Jack Kerouac met his daughter for the first time when she was ten years old, when he took a blood test to prove or disprove his paternity. Jan only met him once more, when she visited him at his home in Lowell, Massachusetts.
In 1964, Jan Kerouac was briefly in a girl group called the Whippets. The group, which consisted of Kerouac, Charlotte Rosenthal, and Bibbe Hansen, released one single, "I Want to Talk to You", a song response to The Beatles' song "I Want to Hold Your Hand". The B-side, "Go Go Go with Ringo", also reflected the Beatlemania of the time. The single did not chart or get much airplay, and the Whippets broke up.
Jan Kerouac lived much of her early life in poverty, sometimes turning to prostitution to survive. She traveled widely, living in South America, Europe, and many different cities in the United States.
Novels
Kerouac published three semi-autobiographical novels, Baby Driver: A Story About Myself in 1981, Trainsong in 1988
Death
On June 5, 1996, Kerouac died in Albuquerque, New Mexico, a day after her spleen was removed. She had suffered kidney failure five years earlier and was on dialysis.
Filmography
- The Beat Generation: An American Dream (1988)
- What Happened to Kerouac? (1986)
Bibliography
Books by Kerouac
- Written in 1992–1993, and published posthumously.
Books about Kerouac
Further reading
- An article published on the 25th anniversary of Jan Kerouac's death.