wildly curious
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Hitting the Road with Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac published “On the Road” in 1957, and it became the defining novel of the Beat Generation. Today, a new documentary explores the book’s legacy.

“Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of a Nation” pairs an exploration of Kerouac’s life and writing with three contemporary stories of people doing just what Kerouac did — getting in the car and setting out. Today, it’s an American tradition. There’s a young man leaving home for college, a woman visiting her estranged father and a couple leaving behind their usual roles as they roam from place to place. Those stories point back to Kerouac’s novel, in which fictionalized versions of himself and his friends embrace a rough and rowdy life away from the American mainstream.

We’re screening “Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of a Nation” in partnership with the Utah Film Center on February 11th. You'll find the details here. The screening is sold out, but you can join a waitlist at the event.

GUESTS

  • Ebs Burnough | He directed the film “Kerouac’s Road: The Beat of a Nation.”
  • Jean-Christophe Cloutier | He’s an associate professor of English and comparative literature at the University of Pennsylvania. He appears in “Kerouac’s Road.”

Broadcast date: February 11th, 2026, at 9am and 7pm.