SAN FRANCISCO -- Fans of Jack Kerouac's 1957 "On the Road" will soon have the chance to see a portion of the original 120-foot manuscript that inspired a subculture of restless beatniks.

Thirty-six feet, a little less than one-third, of the yellowed scroll will be available for viewing at the San Francisco Public Library from Jan. 14 to March 19. The exhibit at the Jewett Gallery will also include books and pictures that detail Kerouac's life and the history of the so-called Beat Generation.

Three lectures to be held during the manuscript's stay in San Francisco will touch on Kerouac and other Beat Generation writers and poets. In January, the library will also screen a series of films related to Beats.

Kerouac, who went on to publish books including "The Subterraneans" and "The Dharma Bums," employed a spontaneous style of writing through which he tried to capture thoughts as quickly as they flashed through his mind.

His writing, which celebrated the thrills of jazz, sex, alcohol and marijuana, touched off a generation that disdained the materialism and conformity of the 1950s. The beatniks, in turn, helped inspire the hippies of the 1960s.

"On the Road" was based on Kerouac's cross-country adventures with his friend Neal Cassady. Kerouac wrote the novel over a 20-day span in 1951 with the aid of coffee and the stimulant Benzedrine. He typed the novel on 12-foot long rolls of tracing paper so he didn't have to pause to load paper in his typewriter.

The book was an overnight success and catapulted Kerouac to instant fame, with The New York Times calling the book's publication "a historic occasion." But the novel also received criticism, most notably from writer Truman Capote, who once remarked: "That's not writing. That's typing."

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