On the Road: Selma ("Sabinal"), California
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On the Road: Selma ("Sabinal"), California
On the Road: Selma ("Sabinal"), California
Labels: California, Google Earth, Google map, Jack Kerouac, On the Road, Sal Paradise, Selma
posted by Michael L. Hess | 9:28 AM
3 Comments:
Great to see update!
Since Sal met Terry,the story became even more exciting.
At Part 1, Chapter 13, Kerouac describes Sabinal as 250 miles from LA which puts it about 30 miles north of Fresno. At Part 2, Chapter 9, he seems to say it lies between Bakersfield and Tulare or considerably south of Fresno. In both cases it seems to be along Hwy 99 and to be a southern pacific railroad stop. How do you know it is Selma?
"Sabinal" appears to be a fictionalized California town. There is no town named Sabinal in California. However, Jack was in a relationship with a woman named Bea Franco, who is fictionalized as "Terry" in On the Road. Bea's home town was Selma, California. My guess is that the inconsistency of his placement of the town in two areas was not really important to him, or just sloppy fact checking on his part and that he was in some way concealing the true place and identity of the woman with whom he was involved. After all, most of the people in the book represent people that he hung out with.
Ultimately, though, I am not an expert on the book and it is only speculation on my part. But I had to place "Sabinal" somewhere, and given what I'd seen, Selma seemed as good a place as any.
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