The Dharma Bums

Jack Kerouac
Penguin Books
9780140042528
0-14-004252-0

Jack Kerouacs classic novel about friendship, the search for meaning, and the allure of natureFirst published in 1958, a year after On the Road put the Beat Generation on the map, The Dharma Bums stands.

read more…

as one of Jack Kerouac's most powerful and influentialnovels. The story focuses on two ebullient young Americans--mountaineer, poet, and Zen Buddhist Japhy Ryder, and Ray Smith, a zestful, innocent writer--whose quest for Truth leads them on a heroic odyssey, from marathon parties and poetry jam sessions in San Francisco's Bohemia to solitude and mountain climbing in the High Sierras.