Edie felt that there would be an instant connection with Jack and Lucian, so she arranged for them to meet. Joyce Johnson notes in her memoir about the meeting, �After all, what�s happened is so momentous, leading on into the future lives and times of the Beats, to the immediate rushing in of other major characters �to the Columbia freshman poet from Paterson, Allen Ginsberg, whom jack will also meet that week; to Burroughs, who happens to be one of Lucien�s odd St. Luis acquaintances�But all of this was first set in motion by little Edie Parker� (Johnson 10). Edie was right; Jack and Lucian became instantaneous friends, thus bringing together some of the first, major Beat members.
Jack and Edie finally married after the Parker family said they would bail Jack out of jail, with the condition that he had to settle down and marry Edie (Campbell 33). They married inside the jail, and after he was released, they moved in with Edie�s family in Grosse Point.
Jack and Edie�s short-lived marriage was annulled in 1948. Jack was
not ready to settle down, and Edie expected him to
give up his spontaneity for her. Edie then moved on, away from the
adventurous Beat community, eventually marrying a businessman. Although her
biography, titled You�ll Be Okay, was never published, she is alive
in Kerouac�s On The Road. Edie also was a writer, but unfortunately,
she was unable to get her work published.
For more information on Edie Parker, check out these source materials.
Written
by:
Elisabeth Massie
Last updated: 22 August 2005