Dissatisfied with the success of On the Road, Kerouac retreats from the whiskey hangovers of San Francisco, heading down Highway 1 to seek refuge along the coast and the winding canyon of Big Sur. The writer settles in a friend's rustic cabin hidden in the woods behind Bixby Bridge. The sudden fame and celebrity of Kerouac's seminal novel makes him a cynic, jaded and alienated by the Beat culture it inspired.
Big Sur is a twisty exploration of California's central coast colored by Kerouac's disillusionment. He spends his days and nights restlessly wandering the empty desert, exploring the creeks, cliffs, and rocky beaches. With each adventure, his mind slips further off the rails. His wavering state of mind manifests in his descriptions of the landscape, alternating between horror and delight. Aware of his instability, he is dismayed to observe "a whole mess of little joys like that which astonished me when I came back in horror to see how they had changed and become sinister." Big Sur is the Kerouac paradox, hauntingly beautiful, innocent and malevolent.
