Big Sur is probably the one Kerouac book that Buk would have liked.
The crux of the question is about how Buk reacted to the fame of the Beats. Reading through his letters he does drunkenly praise both Ginsberg and Burroughs. I think that Buk thought that these were rich spoilt kids that were...
Factotum is my first choice as literaray prozac.
It seems he had hit rock bottom during that period and still saw the humour in it. We can all learn a little from that.
Besides, depression is just anger without enthusiasm.