Door Wide Open: A Beat Love Affair In Letters, 1957-1958 is a collection of letters that were written in 1957-1958 between Joyce Johnson

Joyce Johnson

Joyce Johnson is an American author of fiction and nonfiction who won a National Book Critics Circle Award for her memoir Minor Characters about her relationship with Jack Kerouac.-Personal life:...

 and Jack Kerouac

Jack Kerouac

Jean-Louis "Jack" Lebris de Kerouac was an American novelist and poet. He is considered a literary iconoclast and, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Kerouac is recognized for his spontaneous method of writing, covering topics such as Catholic...

.

The letters depict the rather detached and absurd romance of the two writers, and they are supplemented greatly by Johnson's own narration and related letters between Joyce and her friends and relatives. Johnson is referred to in Kerouac's novel Desolation Angels

Desolation Angels (novel)

Desolation Angels, published in 1965, yet written years earlier around the time On the Road was in the process of publication, is a semi-autobiographical novel written by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac, which makes up part of his Duluoz Legend...

as Alyce Newman, and she has written several introductions for his works.

The relationship between the two took place during a very pivotal time period in Kerouac's life, when his fame was exploding after the release of On the Road

On the Road

On the Road is a novel by American writer Jack Kerouac, written in April 1951, and published by Viking Press in 1957. It is a largely autobiographical work that was based on the spontaneous road trips of Kerouac and his friends across mid-century America. It is often considered a defining work of...

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Door Wide Open spans events from the couple's first meeting until after the romance had faded into friendship.