Listening to the Crack of Doom on the Hydrogen Jukebox (part 3)

Go Go Godzilla, or Let's Dance Until the Bombs Drop

The original Godzilla released in Japan in 1954 carried a direct critique of American nuclear testing and underscored the fear of a nation that was the only one to feel the wrath of atomic weapons. A recut American version released two years later, which included the addition of scenes featuring Raymond Burr as an American journalist adding an American point of view, essentially gutted the critical elements but managed to fuse the general fear of the bomb that was an undercurrent of American culture in the 1950s and a sense of American exceptionalism and defense of its use.

This is the second installment of a long chapter from a manuscript I’m working on that fuses memoir, cultural and literary criticism, politics, written through the lens of my decades-long involvement with Jack Kerouac’s work. Kerouac, along with a few other writers, inspired me to make the written word my art form. It has been a love-hate relationship over the years (more love than hate, of course), as any relationship that lasts will be.

Beatdom’s special Kerouac Turns 100 issue included my essay “Women on the Margins of the Kerouac Legend,” which was conceived as part of Paradise Reconsidered. You can get the issue here.

You can read the first installment of '“Listening to the Crack of Doom on the Hydrogen Juke Box” here. The second one can be found here.

Another planned section, “Notes on My Early Beatdom,” can be read here.

The earlier posts were free, but this and future posts from the Kerouac manuscript will be housed behind a paywall.