Even during his lifetime, Kerouac was proclaimed “King of the Beats,” but he invariably refused this title. All of his work, which served as a catalyst for the counterculture, is permeated with the desire to break free from social patterns and find meaning in life. These searches led to the fact that he either tested his body and psyche to the limit, then began to master spiritual teachings, primarily Buddhism, or traveled around the country and the world. The only collection of short prose in his literary heritage, “The Lonely Wanderer,” was released after the phenomenal success of the novel “On the Road,” which was declared a manifesto of a generation, and contains travel notes presented in Kerouac’s inimitable style. As for the novel “The Sea is My Brother,” based on the experience of the author’s short service in the merchant marine, it essentially represents the first literary experience of the young Kerouac and, having lain in the archives for more than half a century, was finally published for the first time in 2011. The book uses punctuation , different from the norms of the Russian language, but corresponding to the author's style.