num_pages: 175
description: Two ebullient young men search for Truth the Zen 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. 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.
language: English
title: The Dharma Bums
titlecomplete: The Dharma Bums
characters: Japhy Ryder, Ray Smith
genres: Fiction, American, Adventure, Buddhism, Philosophy, Spirituality, Literature, Classics, Novels, Travel
ratings_count: 92750
places: Oregon, South Carolina, San Francisco, California, Los Angeles, California
series: Duluoz Legend
publisher: PANTHER BOOKS