Jack Kerouac, Mexico City Blues

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Mexico City Blues

consists of 242 single-page improvisational poetry, each of which stands as a more-or-less separate “Chorus”, shaped, in terms of length and line-arrangement, to fit into small pocket-sized notebooks. These choruses sketch out Kerouac’s observations, feelings and memories in an improvisational, loose jazz form, consisting of fragmented visions. The poems blend together Kerouac’s interest in jazz, Buddhism and American culture with his memories of his Lowell past in a complex fusion. The “11th Chorus” is in many ways typical of the complex effects this apparently loose fusion can generate. The “11th Chorus” opens:

Brown wrote a bookThe White and the Black N a r c o t i c C i t y switchin on A n g e r F a l l s—

Brown…

524 words

Citation: Ellis, R. J.. "Mexico City Blues". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 April 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=3597, accessed 19 March 2024.]

3597 Mexico City Blues 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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