'On the Road' swings to the rhythms of 1950s underground America, jazz,sex, generosity, chill dawns and drugs, with Sal Paradise and his heroDean Moriarty, traveller and mystic, the living epitome of Beat. Now recognizedas a modern classic, its American Dream is nearer that of Walt Whitmanthan F. Scott Fitzgerald's, and the narrative goes racing towards the sunsetwith unforgettable exuberance, poignancy and autobiographical passion.