Jack Kerouac, Tristessa

R. J. Ellis (University of Birmingham)

The Literary Encyclopedia. Volume 3.2.4: American (US) Writing and Culture: Postwar and Contemporary, 1945-present.
Vol. editors: Sofia Ahlberg (Uppsala University), Patrick Chura (University of Akron), Emory Elliott (University of California, Riverside), Dale Enggass (University of Utah), Christopher Hugh Gair (University of Glasgow), Matthew Hofer (University of New Mexico), Stephen E. Meats (Pittsburg State University), Kerry Myler (Birmingham Newman University), Justin Parks (UiT - The Arctic University of Norway), Nick Selby (University of East Anglia)

Dates

First circulation or publication 1960

Places

United States (Country of Origin)

Genres and Modes

Novel

Resources

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Tristessa

depicts two visits made to Mexico City in 1955 and 1956 by the first-person narrator, Jack Duluoz. He stays with a friend, Bull Gaines (an addict), and becomes involved with Tristessa (a prostitute and Bull’s morphine supplier). Duluoz becomes sexually attracted to Tristessa, and the book explores the way that Duluoz finds it difficult to confront the integuments of this desire. A frustrated Duluoz hangs around his two addict-acquaintances, watching them score, shoot-up, and lie around as their condition declines. Finally he leaves, but Tristessa plays on his mind. He returns to Mexico City, only to find that Tristessa has deteriorated markedly.

Duluoz first encounters Tristessa in Mexico City as a practicing Buddhist sworn to chastity, and this complicates his growing

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661 words

Citation: Ellis, R. J.. "Tristessa". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 23 April 2007 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=8463, accessed 10 May 2024.]

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