This thesis examines the creative practices of Jack Kerouac, in his writing of On the Road; The Original Scroll. Particularly it is concerned with the overriding culture of spontaneity in his creative production, and examines its relevancy to architectural drawing and design.
It began with the question of what if Kerouac was an architect? And thereafter begins to examine his use of Spontaneous Prose, a concept of his own creation, as a tool in the development of his work, and how this can be seen as a proto method for the production of drawings, and consequent development of architecture. It seeks to map Kerouac’s ethos intellectually, culturally and temporally, through three key themes; Observation, The Sketch, and Wild Form. In parallel, the thesis will analyze three characters in relation to Kerouac; the photographer, Robert Frank, architect, Ed D White and musician, Charlie Parker, and situate them as potential influences on Kerouac’s Spontaneous Prose.
The interplay of artistic practices has often been underestimated, and we rather place professions in particular categories distinct from one another. But in Kerouac’s case, the practice of spontaneity was textual, as well as visual, spatial and sonic. I will argue that Kerouac’s methods were inherently spatial and that the spontaneous declaration of ideas is evident in both, the process of design and Beat poetry.
The thesis seeks to map spontaneity in various spheres of the arts taking Kerouac’s Spontaneous Prose as an initial incision, and thereafter uses design based drawing research to supplement this.