On September 5, 1957, Gilbert Millstein reviewed the new novel On the Road and declared author Jack Kerouac the "principal avatar" of The Beat Generation, and that this cross-country quest for adventure and meaning was a major work. Apparently he was right.
Gilbert Millstein wrote for the New York Times, and a positive or negative Times review in 1957 could make or break a book. There weren't as many public forums of opinion back then, nor did we have the freedom of speech via the internet to protest an overly subjective review. So naturally Kerouac was overwhelmed by the praise. Kerouac was then involved with a young writer named Joyce Johnson, and her memoir Minor Characters describes how she and Jack went out after midnight to a newstand at 66th and Broadway in Manhattan and bought a copy of the Times:
We saw the papers come off the truck. The old man at the stand cut the brown cord with a knife and we bought the one on top of the pile and stood under a streetlamp turning pages until we found "Books of the Times." I felt dizzy reading Millstein's first paragraph--like going up on a Ferris wheel too quickly and dangling out over space, laughing and gasping at the same time. Jack was silent. After he'd read the whole thing, he said, "It's good, isn't it?" "Yes," I said. "It's very, very good."
The Viking 40th anniversary edition of On the Road (1997) includes the full Gilbert Millstein review as it was originally printed, noting even the then $3.95 price of the book. This post title is mañana plus one because it's two days from the 50th anniversary of the publication and review, and also because of Kerouac's love of the word mañana in On the Road.
Guitars tinkled. Terry and I gazed at the stars together and kissed. "Mañana," she said. "Everything'll be all right tomorrow, don't you think, Sal-honey, man?"...It was always mañana. For the next week that was all I heard--mañana, a lovely word and one that probably means heaven.
Well, we know it doesn't really mean heaven but we can understand why it might.
