July 26, 2006
Jack Kerouac, Some of the Dharma (Viking, 1991). 420 pages. $32.95 hardback.
Comprised of reading notes, letters, poems, and other miscellany, this tome amounts to an overall sketch of Kerouac's involvement with Buddhism. Granted many of the things presented here would make my former Religion professor Shanta Ratnayaka squirm; for example: "KEROUAC said: 'Chinese saints get drunk/in a cornfield and never/ lose a thing, except maybe/ the pride of self'"(68). But it's fun to read through other folk's notebooks (Camus' notebooks are pretty insightful), and it's also good to see people at the height of their interest in something trying to work through it towards a deeper understanding. Some was definitely a work in progress, even in its finished form.
Comprised of reading notes, letters, poems, and other miscellany, this tome amounts to an overall sketch of Kerouac's involvement with Buddhism. Granted many of the things presented here would make my former Religion professor Shanta Ratnayaka squirm; for example: "KEROUAC said: 'Chinese saints get drunk/in a cornfield and never/ lose a thing, except maybe/ the pride of self'"(68). But it's fun to read through other folk's notebooks (Camus' notebooks are pretty insightful), and it's also good to see people at the height of their interest in something trying to work through it towards a deeper understanding. Some was definitely a work in progress, even in its finished form.
Labels: Books
posted by Mr. Horton at 10:06 AM
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