Biography about jack kerouac dharma bums analysis

1958 novel by Jack Kerouac

This article is about the novel. For the band, see Dharma Bums (band). For the temple in San Diego, California, see Dharma Bum Temple.

The Dharma Bums is a 1958 novel by Beat Generation author Jack Kerouac.

The basis for the novel's semi-fictional accounts are events occurring years after the events of On the Road. The main characters are the narrator Ray Smith, based on Kerouac, and Japhy Ryder, based on the poet and essayist Gary Snyder, who was instrumental in Kerouac's introduction to Buddhism in the mid-1950s.

Jack kerouac

The book concerns duality in Kerouac's life and ideals, examining the relationship of the outdoors, mountaineering, hiking, and hitchhiking through the western US with his "city life" of jazz clubs, poetry readings, and drunken parties.

The protagonist's search for a "Buddhist" context to his experiences (and those of others he encounters) recurs throughout the story.

Released just one year following the success of