The Dharma Bums

novel by Kerouac

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Article History

The Dharma Bums, autobiographical novel by Jack Kerouac, published in 1958. The story’s narrator, Raymond Smith, is based on Kerouac himself, and the poet-woodsman-Buddhist, Japhy Ryder, is a thinly disguised portrait of the poet Gary Snyder. The book contains a number of other characters who are drawn from actual poets and writers.

The plot unfolds when Smith, who is suffering spiritual conflicts amid the emptiness of middle-class American life, meets Ryder, whom he immediately recognizes as a spiritual model. The novel describes the growth of their friendship and Smith’s groping toward personal understanding.

This article was most recently revised and updated by Kathleen Kuiper.