When they were young men, Kim and his best friend, Garland Rain, travelled the world. They worked as dive guides, living free and easy by the sea. Garland is still out there, but Kim’s life is different now. He’s married and a father of three. Still longing for the freedom of the water, Kim agrees to help Garland run a one-time trip to the spectacular Brothers Islands in the Red Sea. What neither man expects is just how badly wrong it will go. Drugs and violence collide, and not everyone returns safely. Back on dry land, Kim finds that the decisions you make in the moment can come back to haunt you, even follow you home.

‘One of the books of the year. Cunnell’s style is matchless: intimate, dark, sincere, wry and exquisitely beautiful’ – Irish Times ‘A cracking, urgent page-turner of a novel’ – Observer The painter Terry Godden was on the brink of his first success. After a violent crisis, he finds himself outcast. In his fifties, and with little money, he retreats to a small island. Arriving in the winter, the island at first seems a desolate and forgotten place. As the seasons turn, Terry begins to see the island’s beauty, and discovers that he is only one of many people who have sought refuge here. These independent outsiders, all with their own considerable struggles, have made a precarious home. The island is owned by the business man and art collector Alex Kaplan. His decision to enforce a rent increase as he seeks to improve his property looks set to destroy this community that cannot afford to lose the little they have left. As an artist, Terry believes making the invisible struggles of the island visible to the world will help – but will his interference save anybody other than himself? The Painter’s Friend shows the human cost of gentrification for those dispossessed. The novel also explores the role of art in protest, and asks who gets to be an artist and what they owe in return. Written with visual lyricism and driven clarity, Howard Cunnell’s incendiary story about class and resistance builds to an unforgettable climax. It is an urgent novel for our unjust times. ‘I loved it. Cunnell’s writing has an unforgettable visual and moral clarity’ – Melissa Harrison, author of All Among the Barley

The legendary 1951 scroll draft of On the Road, published word for word as Kerouac originally composed it Though Jack Kerouac began thinking about the novel that was to become On the Road as early as 1947, it was not until three weeks in April 1951, in an apartment on West Twentieth Street in Manhattan, that he wrote the first full draft that was satisfactory to him. Typed out as one long, single-spaced paragraph on eight long sheets of tracing paper that he later taped together to form a 120 foot scroll, this document is among the most significant, celebrated, and provocative artifacts in contemporary American literary history. It represents the first full expression of Kerouac’s revolutionary aesthetic, the identifiable point at which his thematic vision and narrative voice came together in a sustained burst of creative energy. It was also part of a wider vital experimentation in the American literary, musical, and visual arts in the post-World War II period. It was not until more than six years later, and several new drafts, that Viking published, in 1957, the novel known to us today. On the occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of On the Road, Viking will publish the 1951 scroll in a standard book format. The differences between the two versions are principally ones of significant detail and altered emphasis. The scroll is slightly longer and has a heightened linguistic virtuosity and a more sexually frenetic tone. It also uses the real names of Kerouac’s friends instead of the fictional names he later invented for them. The transcription of the scroll was done by Howard Cunnell who, along with Joshua Kupetz, George Mouratidis, and Penny Vlagopoulos, provides a critical introduction that explains the fascinating compositional and publication history of On the Road and anchors the text in its historical, political, and social context.

As a boy growing up on the south coast of England, Howard Cunnell's sense of self was dominated by his father's absence. Now, years later, he is a father, and his daughter is becoming his son. Starting with his own childhood in the Sussex beachlands, Howard tells the story of the years of self-destruction that defined his young adulthood and the escape he found in reading and the natural world. Still he felt compelled to destroy the relationships that mattered to him. Saved by love and responsibility, Cunnell charts his journey from anger to compassion, as his daughter Jay realises he is a boy, and a son.

" Avec l'arrivée de Neal a commencé cette partie de ma vie qu'on pourrait appeler ma vie sur la route. Neal, c'est le type idéal, pour la route, parce que lui, il y est né, sur la route... " Neal Cassady, chauffard génial, prophète gigolo à la bisexualité triomphale, pique-assiette inspiré et vagabond mystique, est assurément la plus grande rencontre de Jack Kerouac, avec Allen Ginsberg et William Burroughs, autres compagnons d'équipées qui apparaissent ici sous leurs vrais noms. La virée, dans sa bande originale : un long ruban de papier, analogue à celui de la route, sur lequel l'auteur a crépité son texte sans s'arrêter, page unique, paragraphe unique. Aujourd'hui, voici qu'on peut lire ces chants de l'innocence et de l'expérience à la fois, dans leurs accents libertaires et leur lyrisme vibrant ; aujourd'hui on peut entendre dans ses pulsations d'origine le verbe de Kerouac, avec ses syncopes et ses envolées, long comme une phrase de sax ténor dans le noir. Telle est la route, fête mobile, traversées incessantes de la nuit américaine, célébration de l'éphémère. " Quand tout le monde sera mort, a écrit Ginsberg, le roman sera publié dans toute sa folie. " Dont acte.

Los ensayos del presente volumen giran alrededor del primer manuscrito de En la carretera y tienen dos objetivos en común - desmitificar la leyenda del Kerouac maldito, drogadicto, siempre en busca de experiencias y emociones, y reivindicar, con la erudición académica, a un Kerouac consciente de su trabajo, minucioso, ajeno a los experimentalismos gratuitos y que trataba de revolucionar la literatura creando una nueva forma de escribir. Howard Cunnell traza la historia de los tres manuscritos para describir las etapas creativas que atravesó Kerouac en busca de un estilo propio. Penny Vlagopoulos estudia la letra del primer manuscrito y su voluntad de romper las reglas de la gramática para imponer las de la música. George Mouratidis analiza el tema profundo de Kerouac, la búsqueda de lo auténtico. Y Joshua Kupetz contrasta las escuelas críticas de los últimos cincuenta años, que permiten tener imágenes distintas de Kerouac.

Construit à la manière d’un diptyque, Pères et fils est un bouleversant récit de vie. La première moitié du livre est tout entière emplie de l’absence du père du narrateur et des errances du fils, incapable de combler ce vide affectif. Années noires, de mise en danger permanente, que viendront, dans un second temps, apaiser l’amour et la paternité. Mais le chemin reste long : Jay, la fille adoptive de l’auteur, est une adolescente torturée.En alliant les souvenirs douloureux de son enfance et sa propre maturation à la chronique du chaos que déclenchent les doutes de Jay, Howard Cunnell livre un puissant récit autofictionnel, et une riche réflexion sur les enjeux de la masculinité contemporaine et de la paternité. Un texte poignant retranscrit dans une langue fine, impressionniste et lyrique, tissé des références littéraires – de Kerouac à Hemingway en passant par Carver – qui ont aidé l’auteur à comprendre son histoire. Howard Cunnell est universitaire et écrivain. Il est l’éditeur et le coordinateur de Sur la Route : le rouleau original de Jack Kerouac. Il vit à Londres avec sa famille. Pères et Fils est son premier livre traduit en français.