The Holy Goof: A Biography of Neal Cassady

Criminal. Saint. Lunatic. Genius. Muse. Neal Cassady was once described by Jack Kerouac as "more like Dostoevsky than anyone I know." Serving as the model for Kerouac's frenetic hero, the hip, Noble Savage Dean Moriarty in On the Road, and "N.C., the secret hero" of Allen Ginsberg's provocative poem "Howl," Cassady was a genius of life lived on the edge of the abyss. In The Holy Goof, William Plummer strips away the mystery surrounding this enigmatic figure. Plummer brings Cassady to life: his coming of age in a Denver flophouse, his hustling across America, the car thefts that landed him in jail, his meeting with Kerouac and their mad-cap cross-country adventures, his experiments with sex and drugs, his second marriage to Carolyn Cassady, his teaming with Ken Kesey and the Merry Pranksters on an epochal acid trip, and finally his bizarre death in Mexico. With a revealing interview by Al Aronowitz added to this second edition, William Plummer's biography of this amazing figure remains one of the best portraits ever written about the man who lived what others could only write about. Book jacket.… (more)