Kerouac, the Word and the Way: Prose Artist as Spiritual Quester

ISBN: 0809323214

Author: Giamo, Benedict F

Condition: Used

Product DescriptionJack Kerouac, a "ragged priest of the word" according to Ben Giamo, embarked on a spiritual quest "for the ultimate meaning of existence and suffering, and the celebration of joy in the meantime." For Kerouac, the quest was a sustained and creative experiment in literary form. Intuitive and innovative, Kerouac created prose styles that reflected his search for personal meaning and spiritual intensity. These styles varied from an exuberant brand of conventional narrative (On the Road, The Dharma Bums, and Desolation Angels) to spontaneous bop prosody (Visions of Cody.Doctor Sax, and The Subterraneans). Giamos primary purpose is to chronicle and clarify Kerouacs various spiritual quests through close examinations of the novels. Kerouac began his quest with On the Road, which also is Giamos real starting point. To establish early themes, spiritual struggles, and stylistic shifts, however, Giamo begins with the first novel, Town and Country, and ends with Big Sur, the final turning point in Kerouacs quest.Kerouac was primarily a religious writer bent on testing and celebrating the profane depths and transcendent heights of experience and reporting both truly. Baptized and buried a Catholic, he was also heavily influenced by Buddhism, especially from 1954 until 1957 when he integrated traditional Eastern belief into several novels. Catholicism remained an essential force in his writing, but his study of Buddhism was serious and not solely in the service of his literary art. As he wrote to Malcolm Cowley in 1954, "Since I saw you I took up the study of Buddhism and for me its the word and the way I was looking for."Giamo also seeks IT-"a vital force in the experience of living that takes one by surprise, suspending for the moment belief in the real concrete grey everyday of facts of self and selfhood . . . its various meanings, paths, and oscillations: from romantic lyricism to the ragged and ecstatic joy of pure being and from the void-pit of the Great World Snake to the joyous pain of amorous love, and, finally, from Catholic/Buddhist serenity to the onset of penitential martyrhood."ReviewGiamo traces Jack Kerouacs search for spiritual salvation. . . . The author argues that Kerouacs goal in all his fiction was enlightenment, blended with a transcendence that can allow a balancing of the physical and the spiritual. . . . [T]his book is filled with provocative ideas and sincere appreciation for the King of the Beats. It can be read with profit by anyone who wishes to get beyond the media hype of the Beat Generation in order to grapple with one of the United States most significant contemporary writers.-ChoiceBen Giamo stresses the real cornerstone of Kerouac's work. . . . It is a joy to read a book about Kerouac and his writings that doesn't sensationalize him, doesn't address him as a celebrity. Instead Giamo brings to the fore the aspects that would have attracted Gary Snyder, Philip Whalen, Allen Ginsberg and others, that Kerouac saw the daily pursuit of life as holy.-Beat SceneKerouac, the Word and the Way . . . offers insights into Kerouacs life and writing. [It] is a detailed and comprehensive description of what Giamo calls the various spiritual quests undertaken by Kerouac-as revealed by his novelistic writings.-Ann Charters, author of Kerouac: A BiographyBen Giamo digs deep and produces gold, the most intelligent and sensitive analysis of Kerouacs oeuvre ever mined.-John Sampas, executor, the estate of Jack KerouacReaders will welcome this study because it makes use of new materials, building upon the existing critical foundation with insight, intelligence, and a rare humor poking through the critical facade.-Regina Weinreich, author of The Spontaneous Poetics of Jack Kerouac: A Study of the FictionAbout the AuthorBen Giamo is an associate professor and chairman of the Department of American Studies at the University of Notre Dame.His previous books are Th