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The Dharma Bums : A (Fictional) Pseudo-Buddhist Hagiography, or a Pseudo- ojoden.
- Source :
- Religions; Feb2024, Vol. 15 Issue 2, p148, 13p
- Publication Year :
- 2024
-
Abstract
- This paper analyses Jack Kerouac's brief but intense conversion to American pseudo-Buddhism and the artistic effect of this biographical development, arguing that his conversion was total from a spiritual point of view and that its almost immediate effect was the production of a literary piece which should be read as a (fictional) pseudo-Buddhist hagiography, or a pseudo-ojoden. The article investigates Jack Kerouac's life as the life of a modern American Buddha, as a person engaged in a constant quest for spiritual enlightenment, who imbued his work with a spiritual feeling derived from his personal, direct, albeit limited experience with spirituality. His novel, The Dharma Bums, is a (fictional) pseudo-Buddhist hagiography because it is (auto)biographical, and the central characters are portrayed as enlightened, "holy" beings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]
- Subjects :
- DHARMA
SPIRITUALITY
HAGIOGRAPHY
BUDDHISM
BUDDHISTS
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 20771444
- Volume :
- 15
- Issue :
- 2
- Database :
- Complementary Index
- Journal :
- Religions
- Publication Type :
- Academic Journal
- Accession number :
- 175652152
- Full Text :
- https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15020148