John Clellon Holmes (March 12, 1926,
Holyoke, Massachusetts – March 30, 1988,
Middletown, Connecticut) was an American author, poet and professor, best known for his 1952 novel
Go. Considered the first "
Beat" novel,
Go depicted events in his life with his friends
Jack Kerouac,
Neal Cassady and
Allen Ginsberg. He was often referred to as the "quiet Beat" and was one of Kerouac's closest friends. Holmes also wrote what is considered the definitive
jazz novel of the
Beat Generation,
The Horn.