Neal Cassady’s unfinished autobiography, published posthumously in 1971, is titled The First Third. Cassady was a crucial real-life presence behind the Beat Generation’s mythology, especially through his friendship with Jack Kerouac and his appearance as Dean Moriarty in On the Road.
The title indicates that Cassady planned a larger life story but completed only part of it. The surviving manuscript presents an energetic, conversational account of his early life and experiences, offering a perspective different from Kerouac’s fictionalized version of him.
Cassady is often remembered primarily as a character in another writer’s work. That can obscure the fact that he wrote prose himself and circulated autobiographical writing among Beat authors. The First Third is therefore important as a direct document of Cassady’s voice.
The book should not be confused with Visions of Cody, Kerouac’s later work centered on a fictionalized Cassady. The First Third is Cassady’s own unfinished autobiographical project, while Visions of Cody is Kerouac’s literary portrait.