Neal Cassady
Neal Cassady | |
|---|---|
| Born | Neal Leon Cassady February 8, 1926 Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S. |
| Died | February 4, 1968 (aged 41) San Miguel de Allende, Mexico |
| Occupation |
|
| Genre | Beat poetry |
| Notable works | The First Third |
| Spouse | LuAnne Henderson (1945–1948; annulled), Carolyn Cassady (1948–1963; divorced) |
| Partner | Diane Hansen (1950–?), Anne Murphy (?–1968) |
| Children | 5 |
Neal Leon Cassady (February 8, 1926 – February 4, 1968) was an American writer who was a major figure of the Beat Generation of the 1950s and the psychedelic and counterculture movements of the 1960s.
Cassady published only two short fragments of prose in his lifetime, but exerted considerable intellectual and stylistic influence through his conversation and correspondence. Letters, poems, and an unfinished autobiographical novel have been published since his death.
He was prominently featured as himself in the "scroll" (first draft) version of Jack Kerouac's novel On the Road, and served as the model for the character Dean Moriarty in the 1957 version of that book. In many of Kerouac's later books, Cassady is represented by the character Cody Pomeray. Cassady also appeared in Allen Ginsberg's poems and in several other works of literature by other writers.