The auction of a letter deemed the inspiration for Jack Kerouac’s 1957 masterpiece On the Road has been postponed amid an ownership dispute.
The family of Neal Cassady, the Beat Generation icon who penned the 16,000-word correspondence, is locked in a legal wrangle with Kerouac’s relatives, reports the Associated Press.
The letter, known as the Joan Anderson Letter, inspired Kerouac to tear up an early version of On The Road and instead adopt Cassady’s relentless, stream-of-consciousness style.
Los Angeles performance artist Jean Spinosa apparently found the missive when she went through her late father’s belongings.
Both the Cassady and Kerouac estates have filed court motions claiming ownership but a hearing date has not yet been set, Cassady’s daughter Jami Cassady told the Associated Press.
[AP]
- What a Photographer Saw in the West Bank
- The Dirty Secrets of Alternative Plastics
- Accenture’s Chief AI Officer on Why This Is a Defining Moment
- We Should Get Paid for Our Online Data: Column
- Inside COP28's Big 'Experiment'
- The 100 Must-Read Books of 2023
- The Top 100 Photos of 2023
- Want Weekly Recs on What to Watch, Read, and More? Sign Up for Worth Your Time
