Jim Christy: A Vagabond Life - (Tramp Lit) by Ian Cutler (Paperback)

Book Synopsis

Rebel, seeker, traveler, observer, vagabond. Writer and poet Jim Christy has been called all these things and more. Inspired at age twelve after reading Jack Kerouac's On The Road one summer while running wild in the streets of his tough-as-nails, mob-run South Philadelphia neighborhood, Christy began his life-long habit of following the wind. In his seventy-plus years, Christy asserted his freedom of spirit as a vagabond adventurer, latter-day hobo, journalist, private eye, actor, musician, and artist in over fifty countries around the globe, and still found time to write over thirty books of memoir and poetry. Christy's life and stories are an essential link in the history of rebel talents: those rare souls who shift our perspective by choosing to live their lives outside of accepted cultural mores. Ian Cutler interviews Christy, his friends, and his family to assemble this fascinating and inspiring biography of a man who can genuinely be called the last of the Beat Generation.

Review Quotes

"The book is a mixture of interviews (former lovers included) and Cutler's deep dives into Christy's prose, poetry and reportage. Christy's stories are far from tales of regular vacations with predictable holiday snaps. They are raw, raucous, and life-threatening as well as life-affirming. These travel tales may seem tall -- Christy says he can prove them all -- but they also seem tinged with the sadness of someone who is on a scavenger hunt that will never reveal a satisfying prize. It's wanderlust at its most extreme." -- Vancouver Sun

About the Author

Ian Cutler is a philosopher specializing in the Cynic school and its context in modern life. His personal passion is documenting the lives of tramps, vagabonds, and hobos in the UK, Ireland and America.