Desolation Peak: Collected Writings

In 1956, Jack Kerouac hitchhiked from Mill Valley, CA, to the North Cascades to serve as a fire lookout for the US Forest Service. He intended to spend two months contemplating and achieving enlightenment, reading only the Diamond Sutra. In his journal, he planned to focus on the emptiness of self, other selves, living beings, and the universal self. A highlight of this book is Kerouac’s journal, which reveals his poverty, mood swings, and internal conflicts about his life, writing, and faith. 

He also worked on projects like “Ozone Park,” “The Martin Family,” a sequel to The Town and the City, and “Desolation Adventure,”. The collected writings includes Kerouac’s “transliteration” of the Diamond Sutra, “Desolation Blues” and “Desolation Pops” poems, prose sketches, and dreams.