(New to) Great Regulars: In 1955, [Malcolm] Cowley wrote

to the writer:

"'On the Road'--I think that's the right title for the book, not 'The Beat Generation' . . . What your system ought to be is to get the whole thing written down fast . . . then later go back, put yourself in the reader's place, ask whether and how the first expression ought to be changed. . . .If you do that job of revision too then most of your things would be published, instead of kicking around publishers' offices for years."

from Bob Hoover: Post-Gazette: Mapping the route to "On the Road"

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Here's the quick version of "On the Road:"

"Where are we going, man?"

"I don't know, but we gotta go."

This exchange between Sal Paradise (Jack Kerouac) and Dean Moriarty (Neal Cassady) occurs after both have put many miles on their young, aimless lives and they still thirst for travel.

from Bob Hoover: Post-Gazette: 'On the Road' by Jack Kerouac

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