Jack Kerouac, Philip K. Dick & Amphetamines (Writers Under the Influence S1 Ch5)

HOLLYWORD

Jack Kerouac, author of On the Road, and Philip K. Dick, author of The Man in the High Castle, used amphetamines for their writing the way athletes use performance enhancers. Though already talented, a fistful of these so-called ‘smart’ pills helped both men focus their energies and sharpen their minds, and could keep them powering through legendary typing marathons that lasted weeks. But the pharmacological assistance came at a price. The candle that burns twice as bright burns half as long. Jack died at 47 and Philip died at 53. Their lives were a mess by the end. They were a pair of broke, unhealthy, multi-divorcees—Jack a grumpy alcoholic living with his mother; Phil a paranoid recluse toeing the line between madman and genius. Neither lived long enough to see how lasting their legacies would come to be. Like a literary James Dean, Jack Kerouac remains a familiar figure, and his books and connection to the Beat Generation are recognisable even to those who don’t read. Philip K. Dick has been dead almost four decades but his grip on western culture holds fast and his influence is detectable almost everywhere you look; those who have never read his books have almost certainly seen one of the many films adapted from his stories.
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