''Pic'' is a novella by

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian a ...

, first published by

Grove Press Grove Press is an United States of America, American Imprint (trade name), publishing imprint that was founded in 1947. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, and Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it in ...

in 1971. ''Pic'' is the story of a small child,

Pictorial Review The ''Pictorial Review'' was an American women's magazine published from 1899 to 1939. Based in New York, the ''Pictorial Review'' was first published in September 1899. The magazine was originally designed to showcase dress patterns of German i ...

"Pic" Jackson, from

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. When his grandfather, with whom he lives, dies, his older brother appears and plucks him from the dysfunctional home of his aunt. They journey north to

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, where Pic bears witness to the economic 'hard times' his brother is experiencing. After losing not one, but two jobs in one day, his brother sends his pregnant girlfriend to live with her sister in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, as the two boys try to hitch and bum their way across the country. The book is narrated in the first person by Pic, in a voice that is stereotypical for black American youth of the era of publication.

References

*1971. ''Pic'', *1988. ''Satori in Paris & Pic'', 1971 American novels Beat novels Novels by Jack Kerouac Novels published posthumously {{1970s-novel-stub