So I have finished reading Jack Kerouac's On the Road for the first time in my life (spoiler alert: It was profoundly moving). I was drawn by the sheer rich intensity of his prose. Kerouac was a Haiku lover and the world's shortest poetry form might have affected Kerouac's writing in some way or another.
One is reminded of the case of Soseki Natsume, arguably the greatest novelist to come from Japan after Lady Murasaki of The Tale of Genji. Soseki also loved Haiku, being a close friend of Shiki Masaoka, the founder of the modern Haiku movement in Japan.
It is quite interesting to consider how training oneself in the minute details of text writing would lead to a great novel writing in the long form.
Coming back to On the Road, the friendship between Jack and Neal has almost theological implications crossing social and cultural borders, and the final book on a trip to Mexico extends the vision beyond the bounds of the known. A truly great read.
I read the Scroll (first draft) version.
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