Jack Kerouac’s novel On the Road was first published in 1957.
Viking Press released the novel on September 5, 1957. It drew heavily on Kerouac’s cross-country travels and his friendship with Neal Cassady, whose real-life personality inspired Dean Moriarty.
Kerouac wrote an earlier version on a continuous roll of paper in 1951, but that original manuscript was revised before publication. The famous scroll was later exhibited and published separately, which can cause confusion about the novel’s publication date.
On the Road quickly became a defining book associated with the Beat Generation. Its spontaneous prose, jazz-influenced rhythms, and celebration of travel helped make Kerouac a major American literary figure, although he later expressed mixed feelings about the fame it brought him.