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Its themes and style made ‘On the Road’ one of the most influential novels of modern times, but Jack Kerouac’s scroll manuscript, now on display in Dublin, shows that the manner of its writing was just as original as its contents, writes Arminta Wallace

THE OPEN ROAD, in one form or another, is a central image in American culture. Representing freedom and boundless horizons, it is such a familiar theme that we scarcely notice it any more, yet it turns up again and again in films, books, ads for Miller beer and song lyrics by anyone from Springsteen to U2. Jack Kerouac’s novel, On the Road, published in 1957, is the daddy of the form. It expressed the restlessness of a new generation of young Americans who were intent on exploring the vast landscapes of the continent around them, even as they delved into the sometimes murky depths of their personal experience.