In this pioneering critical study of Jack Kerouac's book-length poem,Mexico City Bluesapoetic parallel to the writer's fictional saga, the Duluoz LegendJames T. Jones uses a rich and flexible neoformalist approach to argue his case for the importance of Kerouac's rarely studied poem. After a brief summary of Kerouac's poetic career, Jones embarks on a thorough reading ofMexico City Bluesfrom several different perspectives: he first focuses on Kerouac's use of autobiography in the poem and then discusses how Kerouac's various trips to Mexico, his conversion to Buddhism, his theory of spontaneous poetics, and his attraction to blues and jazz influenced the theme, structure, and sound ofMexico City Blues. Jones's multidimensional explication suggests the formal and thematic complexity of Kerouac's long poem and demonstrates the major contributionMexico City Bluesmakes to postWorld War II American poetry and poetics.