The Dharma Bums - Hardcover

Jack Kerouac

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0899661351 ISBN 13: 9780899661353

Publisher: Lightyear Pr, 1995

Synopsis

Two ebullient young men search for Truth the Zen way: from marathon wine-drinking bouts, poetry jam sessions, and "yabyum" in San Francisco's Bohemia to solitude in the high Sierras and a vigil atop Desolation Peak in Washington State. Published just a year after "On the Road" put the Beat Generation on the map, "The Dharma Bums" is sparked by Kerouac's expansiveness, humor, and a contagious zest for life.

About this title

Review:

One of the best and most popular of Kerouac's autobiographical novels, The Dharma Bums is based on experiences the writer had during the mid-1950s while living in California, after he'd become interested in Buddhism's spiritual mode of understanding. One of the book's main characters, Japhy Ryder, is based on the real poet Gary Snyder, who was a close friend and whose interest in Buddhism influenced Kerouac. This book is a must-read for any serious Kerouac fan.

About the Author:

Jack Kerouac wrote a number of hugely influential and popular novels. He is remembered as one of the key figures of the legendary Beat generation. As much as anything, he came to represent a philosophy, a way of life. Ann Douglas is Professor of Comparative Literature at Columbia University. She has published numerous essays, articles and book reviews on American culture in papers and periodicals such as The New York Times, The Nation and Slate, and introductions for Little Women, Uncle Tom's Cabin and The Subterraneans among others. Prof. Douglas teaches twentieth-century American literature, film, music, and politics, with an emphasis on the Cold War era, African-American culture, and post-colonial approaches. She is currently at work on a book, Noir Nation: Cold War U.S. Culture 1945-1960.

About this edition

• Publisher: Lightyear Pr
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0899661351
• ISBN 13: 9780899661353
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 192