A road novel set in Europe in 1962. Two young men ride motorcycles across Europe in a time of impending change.
This is a youth oriented road novel featuring two young men, Terrance O' Hara and James R. Dean exploring Europe in the early 60s before major cultural and historical changes. They meet famous people before fame, including John Lennon and Bob Dylan. They arrive in Berlin as the wall is going up. They meet a certain "Dark Lady" who will impact their lives even as old men. The short novel has bookends with the two men as senior citizens recalling a road trip when "all hearts opened and all wines flowed."
Professional Reviews
Down the Highway
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5.0 out of 5 stars "Down the highway, down the tracks, down the road to ecstasy..." Bob Dylan December 30, 2014
By Grady Harp HALL OF FAMETOP 100 REVIEWERVINE VOICE
California author Michael Corrigan, born in San Francisco and studied Creative Writing at San Francisco State, has so much Irish in his genetic code that his books are near definitive resources of Irish culture. But much the same can be said of his intuitive knowledge of the history and ambience of San Francisco - both subjects picture strongly in his writings to date. He embraces the Irish American experience and is passionate in his sharing of that subject not only in his novels (he has published seven to date - MULLIGAN being his latest), but also in his short stories and articles in The Scream Online (an arts publication for those who have yet to discover it), and in plays. Corrigan is a director as well as a playwright for San Francisco's Playwrights Theater and the Pacific Theatre Ensemble in Los Angeles. And as if that weren't enough to crowd the hours of the days and nights Corrigan is also involved in screen writing after attending the American Film Institute, has been a teacher of English and speech communications, and has embraced folk-blues as an acoustic guitar performer. Credentials for writing this newest novel are fully in place.
One would almost suspect with Corrigan's keen sense of humor and place and take on history that he would get around to writing a road novel and sure enough DOWN THE HIGHWAY is precisely that - and more. That wily sense of parody and humor is always in place, even in his choice of names for his chief narrators - James R. Dean and Terrance O'Hara - to recall a journal of a trip around Europe in 1962 - a time those of us who were youths in that period of change in music, politics, wars, styles and every thing else au courant for the time recall on every page of this bright novel. But how many writers have the gumption to begin a novel as a prologue looking back, before the story even begins?
'Prologue: James looked older than his years with his thinning white hair and stooped posture, his left hand on a cane. Limping, he made it to a chair on the back porch and sat down heavily, talking on his cell phone clutched in his right hand. His feet felt like they were encased in cement. The leaves on the trees were turning with the deepening California autumn. "You come on over, Abe. I'd like to meet you. Your dad was a helluva guy, even if we only knew Herb briefly.""My pleasure, Mr. Dean. I feel like I know you already. Hey, I really enjoyed Terrance O' Hara's European journal." "Yeah, and he was probably drunk when he wrote it. It's pure fiction." "It's still a good read." "I come off as an a**hole." "But a lovable 18-year-old a**hole. That was a year when so much was about to happen." "1962. Long time ago. We were young, dumb and full of come," James Dean said. "The Europe we traveled is long gone, but come on over, Abe." "Will do," Abe said. "Looking forward." James hung up. Inside the house, Lauren, his eight-year-old daughter, was calling Heidi, their Beagle. James stared at a manila envelope, then slid a few pages out onto the table. Dates gave it a journal format. The title page had a quote from French poet, Arthur Rimbaud: "Once, if I remember well, my heart was a feast where all hearts opened and all wines flowed." The wine did flow, James thought. He read a paragraph and shook his head. "I don't even talk like that," he said aloud.'
That is the flavor and a slice of the skill Corrigan shares. As the author's synopsis shares, `Down the Highway is a picaresque road novel with many narrators. It is set in Europe, 1962, with the bookends of travelers--James R. Dean and Terrance O' Hara--meeting in current time as older men reevaluating their lives and past tragedies. As young men, they find their American voices while traveling with little money through Europe during a time of pending major change. While a folksinger named Dylan is about to change American music forever, they meet John Lennon just before the Beatles hire a new drummer named Ringo. They teach the French youth of Toulouse how to curse in English. In Rome, a beautiful Italian woman named Franca teaches James the art of sexual love. They see the Berlin wall going up and witness its first casualty, the slain youth who became known simply as Peter. In Munich's Hofbräuhaus, they confront neo Nazis who have attacked a fellow traveler, Herb Freedman. And what did that novice nun mean by having her "Walt Whitman moment"? On the road, they make other quick friends they will never see again. They also meet an American woman named Pat who forges a love triangle profoundly changing both men. When the two friends meet decades later, will they also contact the elusive woman who affected their lives?'
Writing of this skill and character reminds us of the writing of major Irish writers such as James Joyce, Brendan Behan, Colm Tóibín, and Brian Friel among others. With DOWN THE HIGHWAY it is assured that Michael Corrigan's time has come. Grady Harp, December 14
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