'On the road' trip

"On the Road" makes its first stop in Bloomington today.\nAn exhibit of the original manuscript for Jack Kerouac's definitive Beat novel "On the Road" begins today at the Lilly Library and will remain on display until May 10. The Lilly Library is the manuscript's first stop in a five-year, nationwide tour.\n"We're extremely happy to have (the manuscript) here and to be the first stop," said Breon Mitchell, director of the Lilly Library. "We expect to probably have more people visit this exhibit than anything else we've displayed in recent years."\nChris Harter, curator of the Beat exhibit at the library, said Kerouac's masterpiece has continued to attract a wide reader base since its publication in 1957.\n"Even though (the book) was written in the 1950s, it never stuck within that period," Harter said. "The feelings and emotions and spontaneity of the novel still go on and on to following generations." \nSince its publication, "On the Road" has sold over 3 million copies and has long been considered the bible of the Beat Generation in American literature. Kerouac composed the manuscript for the novel on several 12-foot scrolls of paper, allowing the paper to feed continually into his typewriter without interrupting the flow of his narrative. Known as a lightning typist, Kerouac completed the manuscript for "On the Road" in a 20-day marathon of writing, helping to develop the style of writing that is known as stream of consciousness prose. The entire manuscript extends over 119 feet in single-spaced typing and without any paragraph breaks. \n"Since the manuscript is so long, we don't have the room to display the entire piece at one time," Mitchell said. "But we're going to rotate the displayed sections of the manuscript, so that by the time the three month exhibit is over, people will have had the chance to see the entire piece."\nThe preservation of the manuscript was led by Jim Canary, head of special collections conservation at the Lilly Library. After Indianapolis Colts owner James Irsay purchased the manuscript for $2.2 million, Canary was approached to help with the handling and preservation of the manuscript.\n"The (preservation) process took a long time because the piece is so fragile, but I still enjoyed the work," Canary said. "I repaired the tears and then went through the piece, inch by inch, and identified the state of condition it was in."\nKerouac's manuscript is the centerpiece for several other Beat exhibits currently on display in the Lilly Library. In addition to other Kerouac manuscripts, the exhibit displays the works from other Beat writers, such as Allen Ginsberg and LeRoi Jones.\nCanary said he hopes students will take advantage of this valuable opportunity to observe such a significant work of American literature.\n"There are some really interesting differences between the manuscript and the novel," Canary said, "This is a unique opportunity for students to come in and compare their editions to the original manuscript and to appreciate an important piece of literature"