You are here

FAU Collections » FAU Research Repository » FAU Theses and Dissertations

RECURRING MOTIFS IN THREE NOVELS BY JACK KEROUAC

Download pdf | Full Screen View

Date Issued:
1976
Summary:
In the early fiction of Jack Kerouac, the journey motif is pervasive. In On The Road, The Subterraneans, and The Dharma Bums, much of the action takes place outside on highways, streets, sidewalks, alleys, and mountain trails. For the hobos, hitchhikers, migrant workers, and religious wanderers that Kerouac describes, the road becomes a metaphorical stage upon which the drama of their lives occurs. Beginning in On The Road, Kerouac fashions a first person quest figure who takes to America's highways in innocent exuberance in search of a dream. The Subterraneans reveals the quest figure on a convoluted "inner journey'' caught up in a maze of city streets and alleyways. Finally, in The Dharma Bums, the quest figure follows the road in pursuit of religious enlightenment that leads him to the mountain trails of the Pacific Northwest where the experience creates an expression of optimistic self-knowledge.
Title: RECURRING MOTIFS IN THREE NOVELS BY JACK KEROUAC.
288 views
157 downloads
Name(s): ROUNDY, PETER EDWARD.
Florida Atlantic University, Degree grantor
Coyle, William, Thesis advisor
Type of Resource: text
Genre: Electronic Thesis Or Dissertation
Issuance: monographic
Date Issued: 1976
Publisher: Florida Atlantic University
Place of Publication: Boca Raton, Fla.
Physical Form: application/pdf
Extent: 106 p.
Language(s): English
Summary: In the early fiction of Jack Kerouac, the journey motif is pervasive. In On The Road, The Subterraneans, and The Dharma Bums, much of the action takes place outside on highways, streets, sidewalks, alleys, and mountain trails. For the hobos, hitchhikers, migrant workers, and religious wanderers that Kerouac describes, the road becomes a metaphorical stage upon which the drama of their lives occurs. Beginning in On The Road, Kerouac fashions a first person quest figure who takes to America's highways in innocent exuberance in search of a dream. The Subterraneans reveals the quest figure on a convoluted "inner journey'' caught up in a maze of city streets and alleyways. Finally, in The Dharma Bums, the quest figure follows the road in pursuit of religious enlightenment that leads him to the mountain trails of the Pacific Northwest where the experience creates an expression of optimistic self-knowledge.
Identifier: 13812 (digitool), FADT13812 (IID), fau:10641 (fedora)
Collection: FAU Electronic Theses and Dissertations Collection
Note(s): Dorothy F. Schmidt College of Arts and Letters
Thesis (M.A.)--Florida Atlantic University, 1976.
Subject(s): Kerouac, Jack,--1922-1969
Held by: Florida Atlantic University Libraries
Persistent Link to This Record: http://purl.flvc.org/fcla/dt/13812
Sublocation: Digital Library
Use and Reproduction: Copyright © is held by the author, with permission granted to Florida Atlantic University to digitize, archive and distribute this item for non-profit research and educational purposes. Any reuse of this item in excess of fair use or other copyright exemptions requires permission of the copyright holder.
Use and Reproduction: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
Host Institution: FAU
Is Part of Series: Florida Atlantic University Digital Library Collections.