No one ever told me this book was a hagiography - if they had I would have got to it much quicker. The narrative is all about Dean Moriarty's transformation from a 'Holy Goof' into an Angel, making it in many senses a very traditional hagiography. Even more interesting is the presence of some fragments of Christian spirituality mixed up with all the debauchery and madness. Sal and Dean go on their beatific journey together, but Dean is the only one with the necessary energy and intuition to appreciate the material world as it really is. A brilliantly complex exploration of mid-twentieth century spiritualism which I enjoyed greatly.