One of Jan's impromptu photos sent to the author, with "me in my garden" scrawled on the back .
Jan Michelle Kerouac
Saturday 3 December 2005 22:50-23:10 (Radio 3)
A portrait of poet Jan Michelle Kerouac (1952-1996) made by her friend Marjorie Van Halteren in remembrance of her astonishing spirit. Jan Kerouac met her famous father Jack Kerouac only twice. When she was a teenager, he said to her "Write a book. Use my name". But in the end his name turned out to be the last part of him that she really needed. She took up writing of her own accord and it became her lifeline. Towards the end of her life, Jan even talked of changing her famous name so that she could continue to do what she loved above all in peace - to write. But her grip on health loosened and her life ended in the midst of the kind of confusion that the estates of famous writers too often come to today. Her identity was overshadowed by a drama made up of all the greed and obsession concerning Jack's papers and works. Marjorie Van Halteren was crushed by Jan's untimely death aged just 44. In this programme, Marjorie has tried to evoke the last time she saw her friend, acting on a desire to bring Jan back for the listener.
