TLS signed “Jack Kerouac the Humble,” one page, 8.5 x 8, December 18, 1963. In full: “Malory’s socalled French title ‘Le Morte d’Arthur’ is incorrect because, if you’ll pick up your French dictionary you’ll find that death, or mort, is a noun of feminine gender and naturally requires a feminine article, la mort. There’s no such use of ‘morte’ except as you refer to a feminine subject, ‘elle est morte.’ You never use ‘morte’ as a noun; unless you say ‘the dead one’ (feminine.) ‘La Morte.’ The French you’ve noticed in my books is phonetic spelling of the 15th century French that was preserved in Quebec, far from the Moorish, German, Jewish and other influences of the court of Louis XIV and afterwards, that changed 15th century French into what it is today in Paris, a polyglot somewhat like Brooklynese on a high level. Just as Elizabethan English was preserved in the Appalachian Mountains of America, or Cephardic Hebraic was preserved in the ghettoes of Portugal, so medieval French was preserved in Quebec. Anthony Bonner in his introduction to ‘The Complete Works of Francois Villon’ writes: ‘The main rules to follow, that is, the principle differences between 15th century and modern French, are: 1) r’s were rolled as in Spanish or Italian, 2) -ill- was pronounced like the Spanish -ll- or the Italian -gli-, not -y- as today…In other words Villon’s name was pronounced Villon, not Viyon as it is today…3) oi was pronounced wé, not wa as it is today.’ That’s why I put in the phonetic ‘mué’ and ‘tué’ or ‘mwé’ and ‘twé’ for moi et toi in my books recounting the Quebecois Medieval French way of pronunciation. Moreover, my mother has given me a list of nouns and adjectives and adverbs completely forgotten in modern France but preserved for 400 years in Quebec, and I’m going to use them liberally in future works. This explains why Paris published my ‘Doctor Sax’ out of curiosity for the remnants of old French. Tell that to Mount Gomerie and the old Norman Invader. You know the word Bivouac. Biv in Celtic means camp, ouac means ‘in the field.’ Kerouac is ‘ker,’ or ‘house,’ and ‘ouac,’ in the field. My name is Celtic. The Cornish and the Bretons were on both sides of the English Channel as a kind of a people in themselves, known as the Brythonic Celts. The Goidelic Celts were up North, i.e., Welsh, Irish, Scot, and Max. My people originally came across the Channel from Cornwall to Brittany. The name of the Cornish Celtic language is ‘Kernuak.’ There is a castle in Cornwall called ‘Kernodjack.’ I found my family scutcheon in the ‘Rivistica Araldica’ in the British Museum, spelled ‘Keroack.’ There you have the difference between Cornish and Breton spelling, that’s all. And how the Kerouacs became French-speaking. When I met Edgar Varese he told me I spoke perfect French, he told me this in front of scores of laughing Parisians with long ears.” The letter bears various corrections and additions throughout, all in Kerouac’s hand. In fine condition, with intersecting folds (one vertical fold passing through a single letter of the signature) and light uniform toning. Accompanied by the original mailing envelope, with Kerouac filling out the return address area in his own hand: “J. Kerouac, Northport NY, 11768.” Pre-certified PSA/DNA and RR Auction COA.
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