The Dharma Bums (Masterplots II: American Fiction Series, Revised Edition)
At a glance:
- Author: Jack Kerouac
- First Published: 1958
- Type of Plot: Spiritual quest
- Time of Work: From 1955 to 1956
- Setting: The California coast, San Francisco, Berkeley, the California Sierra, North Carolina, Marin County, and the Washington Cascades
- Principal Characters: Raymond Smith, Japhy Ryder, Cody Pomeray
- Genres: Long fiction
- Subjects: 1950’s
- Locales: California
The Novel
Like most of Jack Kerouac’s novels, The Dharma Bums is an autobiographical fiction in which a particular period in its author’s life is dramatically heightened and given coherent shape. The book focuses on the friendship between its first-person narrator, Raymond Smith (based on Kerouac himself), and Japhy Ryder (based on Gary Snyder), and on the ways in which Japhy inspires Ray to lead a more spiritual, self-sufficient life.
The novel begins, however, not with the first meeting between Ray and Japhy, but with a freight train ride from Los Angeles to...
[The entire page is 2687 words long]
Join eNotes
Over 3,500 study guides, question and answer forums, literature criticism, reference content, and much more!
Navigate
See Also
