12. Jack Kerouac, leader of the Beat Movement, lived with schizophrenia
Jack Kerouac (1922-69) was a poet and novelist who was a significant influence on the culture of the 1960s, and remains a revered figure today. His Bohemian lifestyle captured a particular moment in time, and his chief literary innovation was the use of spontaneous prose. As illustration, his novel, On the Road, the essential work of the Beat Movement, was written in three weeks on 120-feet of paper taped together and passed through a typewriter. He refused to edit his work, living by the simple maxim, ‘first thought, best thought’, which remains the bane of lecturers teaching young Kerouac-aficionados.
In 1942, after dropping out of Columbia University, Kerouac signed up for the United States Merchant Marine. But shortly after beginning active service in 1943, he was hospitalized and examined by military doctors, who concluded that he was suffering from ‘Dementia Praecox’, or schizophrenia. He was consequently deemed unfit for service. In fact, Kerouac had actually been hearing voices in his head from a young age, describing how he heard God speak to him at the age of six when he was saying the Rosary, telling him that he would die painfully (which came true) but, ultimately, achieve salvation.