As well as being a bit of a fan of the vampire genre, I have carried a(n adult) lifelong love of Jack Kerouac’s work and, for me, his oeuvre is simply the best of American literature. His book Doctor Sax was very different from his more famous road novels. Set in Lowell, Massachusetts, which was his childhood home, it draws inspiration from his childhood but with the addition of childhood fantasy. The eponymous Doctor Sax is a sinister looking figure who, ultimately, is actually a good guy. There are also vampires – most notably the Hungarian Count Condu whose aim is to bring about the awakening of the World Snake so that it will devour the world.
Doctor Sax meant much to Kerouac and so he actually adapted it into a screenplay and that screenplay is Doctor Sax and the Great World Snake. I received the screenplay for Christmas and, being a screenplay, decided to look at it as an Honourable Mention rather than a review. The screenplay was never filmed but the book originally came with 2 CDs that had an audio rendition of the screenplay produced by Kerouac's nephew Jim Sampas. The book I received was the screenplay alone (and I assume designed to be so as the cover doesn’t mention the CDs.)
I have discovered that the audio is on YouTube at time of writing – though I have to admit that the voice acting is disappointing. That said, it pleases me that the greatest writer America produced (in my opinion) has a place in the vampire genre. At some point in the future, I will re-read the novel Doctor Sax and at that point review it here. My thanks to Sarah for this book.
In Paperback @ Amazon US
In Paperback @ Amazon UK
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