On the Road: Genre 1 key example

But travelogues can also focus on the act of traveling itself, and On the Road is an excellent example of this. In their attempt to introduce readers to new settings, travel narratives can exoticize or objectify the foreign locations they describe. Sal is an American traveling mostly in his native country, but his forays into Black bars and jazz clubs may seem at times voyeuristic. His willingness to enter Black spaces is both admirable and fraught, and there is no simple way to characterize how he describes the "others" of white American life in the post-war era. Readers will have to determine for themselves whether Sal and his friends are exploitative tourists, allies, or something in between.

In addition to being a travelogue, On the Road is arguably the most famous piece of literature produced by the Beat Movement. The Beat Generation was a subcultural movement spearheaded by Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg, and William S. Burroughs, among other writers, artists, and publishers. Beat literature is characterized by crime, sex, dialect, slang, cursing, drug use, and an interest in mid-century American subcultures of all kinds, from jazz to Buddhism. Many works of literature from the Beat movement are semi-autobiographical, including On the Road. While names and some events were changed to protect people's privacy and avoid legal issues, many of the characters can be traced to real-life people, including important Beat writers. Ginsberg, for instance, is represented by Carlo Marx, and Old Bull Lee is William Burroughs.