THE VISION THING

Re Paperbacks, Jan. 6, “On the Road”:

Kerouac’s vision was Whitmanesque and immense. His sound, unique and pure as a trumpet solo by Charlie Parker, echoes throughout postwar literature, particularly poetry.

That his characters and the writer himself were outcasts, misfits and rebels is hardly a valid literary criterion.

You’d think the value of “On the Road,” “Tristessa” or “The Subterraneans” would be indisputable by now.

RIK THORENSEN, LOS OSOS