Over the Road

After his death in August 2023 a manuscript dated 2015 was discovered tucked among the books on the author's shelves. Titled 'Over The Road', with the 'Over' inscribed above a crossed-out 'On', it had been written or copied into in a mini-notebook, one of a series which featured the classic 1950s Penguin Books orange, white, and black paperback covers--in this case the cover of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.

In her introduction, Olds's friend and fellow poet writes: "If Jack Kerouac's On the Road defined a generation, Over the Road defines Peter Olds as an individual. Olds transforms himself into Jack the narrator, restless and provocative, observant and poetic, hitching from the deep south, heading everywhere and nowhere, searching for the great unknown. In this condensed memoirish-travel guide, he heads north, stopping at Mexico City and Jerusalem on the way. Not stopping at Gore.

From the V-8 engine of Olds's literary imagination key people and places collide in a condensation of time. A fusion of fact and disguise.

Olds's lengthy struggle to arrive at a consistent sense of self is presented here by the close relationship between the two Jacks. 'I' Jack the narrator is connected through tangled relationships to his cousin 'Jack' Jack. Both Jacks walk alone.

Across the Road is an opportunity to experience Olds on a roll of ideas, albeit more curated in print. In later decades of his life, these conversations were surreal, often funny, and deliciously scathing. Sometimes gentle. Definitely inspiring."