Desolation Angels is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac, which makes up part of his Duluoz Legend. It was published in 1965, but was written years earlier, around the time On the Road was in the process of publication. The events described in the novel take place from 1956-1957. Much of the psychological struggle which the novel's protagonist, Jack Duluoz, undergoes in the novel reflects Kerouac's own increasing disenchantment with the Buddhist philosophy. Throughout the novel, Kerouac discusses his disenchantment with fame, and complicated feelings towards the Beat Generation. He also discusses his relationship with his mother and his friends (and prominent Beat figures) such as Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady, Lucienn Carr and William S. Burroughs. The novel is also notable for being a relatively positive portrayal of homosexuality and homosexual characters, despite its use of words that were at the time considered homophobic slurs.
Contents
Character key
All of Kerouac's Duluoz legend's characters were based on others that were present within his life, and Desolation Angels is no exception.
"Because of the objections of my early publishers I was not allowed to use the same personae names in each work."
Kerouac was not particularly conscientious about masking the identities of his friends in this work. In Chapter 43 of Book 1, he refers to "...the Sundays in Neal Cassady's writings..." The editors may have ignored this, since it refers to Neal as a writer instead of a friend. In Chapter 80, the discussion of the meanings of Urso and Pomeray's names leads to an unclear comparison to the name Corso.
Partway through Chapter 91 of Book 1, there is the line, "'Who wants to ride freight trains!' -Gregory- 'I dont dig all this crap where you ride freight trains and have to exchange butts with bums-'". Somehow both Kerouac and the editors missed that "Gregory" was not changed to "Raphael". Similarly, the locals of Tangiers call Old Bull Hubbard (Burroughs) "Boorows" in Chapter 52 of Book 2.
In Chapter 5 of Book 2 the proprietor of a corner store in Tangiers is said to call Old Bull Gaines (Garver) "Senor Gahr-va".
Interestingly, multiple books or poems written by the characters were based on real-life books, written by the character's real-life counterpart. For example, Kerouac's On the Road is referred to as "Road [by Jack Duluoz]", William S. Burroughs' Naked Lunch is referred to as "Nude Breakfast [by Bull Hubbard]", and Allen Ginsberg's Howl is referred to as "Howling [by Irwin Garden]"
There is also a reference to the Burroughs Adding Machine Computer, which was invented by Burroughs' Grandfather, on the final page of Book 2, Part Two. The trust-fund money that Burroughs lives off of in Tangiers comes from this invention.
Plot
Desolation Angels follows the travels of Jack Duluoz and contains two books, totaling six parts all-together. Book 1: Desolation Angels contains Part One: Desolation in Solitude and Part Two: Desolation in the World, totaling 102 chapters. Book 2: Passing Through contains Part One: Passing Through Mexico, Part Two: Passing Through New York, Part Three: Passing through Tangiers, France and London, and Part Four: Passing Through America Again, coming to a total of 84 chapters.
The novel's events take place from 1956-1957, and depict Kerouac's life after the events of The Dharma Bums, immediately before the publication of On The Road, through the character Jack Duluoz. Throughout the novel, Kerouac's group of friends are referred to as "The Desolation Angels", regardless of how many people are present at any time. Since all the characters names are often considered pseudonyms for the people that inspired them, they will largely be referred to in this article using their real world names.
Book One: Desolation Angels
According to the book's foreword, the opening section of the novel is taken almost directly from the journal he kept when he was a fire lookout on Desolation Peak in the North Cascade mountains of Washington state. Another account of this time was published in Kerouac's 1960 book of sketches and essays Lonesome Traveler.
The first section, typed up in Mexico in 1956, depicts Jack Kerouac's time as a fire lookout on Desolation Peak during the summer of 1956, beginning almost immediately after the conclusion of the events in Kerouac's 1959 novel The Dharma Bums. While the stay was initially spiritually fulfilling, Kerouac describes the negative effects of his two-month solitude in lines such as “Many's the time I thought I'd die of boredom or jump off the mountain,”. He spends his time playing card games of his own creation, scribbling in notebooks, unsuccessfully attempting to quit smoking and listening to the chatter of other lookouts over the radio.
Book One, Part One is notable for its description of Kerouac's interest in Zen Buddhism, and his anxiety over his mother growing old, his age and his future as a writer (The Town and the City had been published 6 years earlier, and On the Road would be published the following year). He muses on his spirituality and his past, mentioning that he could have married "Maggie Cassidy", a character with a prominent role in the novel of the same name, who is based on Kerouac's high-school girlfriend Mary Carney. Kerouac is largely the only character, with other characters such as "Irwin Garden" (real name Allen Ginsberg), "Cody Pomeray" (Neal Cassady), or "Bull Hubbard" (William S. Burroughs) mentioned briefly. Part One also contains many depictions of Kerouac's sexual fantasies, or ideal women.
As the fire season draws to a close, and fewer lookouts are needed, Kerouac leaves Desolation Peak after 63 days, with his mind "in rags".
The novel's second section contains Jack Kerouac's hike down Desolation Peak, and his return to society, and hitchhiking his way to San Francisco. He struggles to return to society, feeling sickened by the unfamiliar smell of fresh ink on a newspaper. While in San Francisco, he reunites with his friends, such as Allen Ginsberg, Neal Cassady and "Simon Darlovsky" (Peter Orlovsky). Kerouac describes mixed feelings about whether to live a life of solitude, or to return to society with his friends. His disenchantment with Buddhism becomes more obvious, and he increases his consumption of drugs and alcohol. He is gifted a crucifix necklace by misspelledz (Gregory Corso), and wonders "'What would Christians and Catholics say about me wearing the cross to ball and to drink like this?'" Kerouac would later publicly somewhat readopt the Catholic faith of his upbringing, stating "All I write about is Jesus" in 1968, but throughout his life he had a complicated relationship with Christianity. Book One, Part Two is significantly longer than other parts of the novel, possibly since Kerouac wished to have the first book published as its own separate novel
Book Two: Passing Through
The shortest part of all, Book Two, Part One describes Jack Kerouac's time in Mexico in September 1956. Kerouac stays with friend Old Bull Gaines (Bill Garver), a 60-year-old heroin addict and petty thief. Kerouac jumps forward in time for a moment in Book Two, Part One, Chapter 8 to explain his frustrations with fame and press attention. Kerouac stayed in Mexico in an attempt to increase his creative output. This attempt succeeds, as he writes "...a whole novel, finished another, and wrote a whole book of poetry." This likely refers to how Kerouac wrote the entirety of Book One: Desolation Angels, and finished writing Tristessa while in Mexico. Kerouac's friends, such as Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso and Peter Orlovsky and his brother, "Lazarus Darlovsky" (Lafcadio Orlovsky) then join him, which both excited and frustrates Kerouac. Kerouac discusses Allen Ginsberg's homosexuality openly through the character Irwin Garden, and defends homosexuality, particularly Queer authors. Kerouac had a complicated relationship with his own sexuality, and here takes care to specifically state that he is "a non-queer".
Kerouac and his friends decide to return to the United States, and visit New York, as described in Book Two Part Two.
Consisting largely of travel through the United States, as well as time spent in New York and Washington, DC in 1956, Part Two begins with Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and the Orlovsky Brothers making their way to New York, leaving Garver in Mexico, despite his protestations and grief at being left alone. They are driven out of Mexico by a man named Norman (no last name is given), crossing the border into Texas and spending time sleeping in the car or in sleeping bags. Kerouac and Lafcadio share a sleeping bag. The Desolation Angels travel through the United States, drinking and arguing. When arriving in New York, they meet Ruth Erickson (real name Helen Elliot) and her roommate Ruth Heaper (Helen Weaver), who are both described as incredibly beautiful. Kerouac moves in with Weaver, and they have a relationship from 1956-57. Kerouac claims he felt like marrying her. In this part of the novel, Kerouac describes women in general in a derogatory manner, reducing them to little more than objects of desire for men.
Helen Elliot confesses feelings for Julien Love (Lucien Carr), who had earlier had unrequited feelings for her, but was now married. Kerouac meets up with Carr, and discusses a number of the interactions they have had. Kerouac and Carr visit Weaver's house, where Kerouac is living, and upon seeing him drunk, Weaver begins to beat Kerouac, pulling out his hair and punching him repeatedly, leading to Carr nicknaming her "Slugger".
Style
Desolation Angels is one of the longest examples of Kerouac's style of spontaneous prose at 366 pages. As with most of Kerouac's work, Desolation Angels is long-form prose poetry composed as a memoir-novel. Kerouac used the style of spontaneous prose in most of his books, such as The Subterraneans, Maggie Cassidy and On the Road, amongst others in the Duluoz Legend.
The novel follows an atypical chapter structure, with "chapters" ranging from small paragraphs (i.e. Book 1 Chapter 9, which is a single line) to numerous pages. Book One contains many haiku or senryū inspired poems, often at the end of a chapter, although they do not follow the typical structure of the form, besides from often having 3 lines.
The book is broken up into two sections called Desolation Angels and Passing Through, which are then subdivided into many shorter parts. Each part focuses on a specific location where Kerouac is at that time. The foreword of the book mentions that Kerouac was hoping to get the second section, Passing Through, published as a standalone novel.
References in popular culture
Bad Company's 1979 album Desolation Angels was named after this novel.
Kathy Acker's novel Kathy Goes to Haiti references this book.
The Austin, Texas-based country band Reckless Kelly has a song titled "Desolation Angels".
"Desolation Row", by Bob Dylan, is said to have gotten its title from this novel, and features the line "the perfect image of a priest", which Dylan quoted from this novel.
Roger Daltrey mentions the book on his solo album Parting Must be Painless on the Steve Swindells' song "Dont Wait on the Stairs"
The name of alt. folk group Mt Desolation, featuring members of The Killers, Keane, Mumford and Sons, and Noah and the Whale, is based on this book and Desolation Peak.
Passion Pit's song "Sleepyhead" samples a quote from this novel.
T. Rex's song "Rock On" from the album The Slider features the line "Desolation Angel on the cover of my paper, loves everyone, everyone.".
Everybody Wants Some, a 2016 film by Richard Linklater, shows a character reading the book.
Patti Smith's song "1959" references the book with the lines, "Wisdom was a teapot pouring from above. Desolation Angels served it up with love."