The SubterraneansOne of Kerouac's most enduring and touching works. The Subterraneans haunt the bars and clubs of San Francisco, surviving on a diet of booze and benzedrine, Proust and Verlaine. Living amongst them is Leo, an aspiring writer, and Mardou, half Indian, half Negro, beautiful and neurotic. Their bittersweet and ill starred love affair sees Kerouac at his most evocative. Many regard this as being Kerouac's most touching and tender book.