/lit/ - Literature

Absolutely not.

Are his other books good? I was thinking of reading The Dharma Bums next and maybe exploring some other books of his. Advice?

Kerouac is fucking gay.
- Anybody who knows anything.

>>1247203
to be more precise; keroac was a gay homophobe.
also, savage detectives is better

>>1247206
I said it once last night but it bears repeating I guess. It was a pleasant read but Kerouacs approach to Buddhism is a little naive and try hard and grated on my nerves by the time I was done. I don't suppose it's a bad book, but you can kinda tell Buddhism was something he had just stumbled upon and was super psyched about so he decided to cram as many sanskrit words and koans into the story as he could fit. Sort of like when you first came to 4chan and couldn't stop spouting memes to your friends who all thought you looked like kind of a dumb ass.

>>1247206
Dharma Bums is good, similar to On the Road, but with more Buddhism. Vanity of Duluoz is also pretty good, if you tire of Kerouac seeming like a proto-hipster then it will be better for you. Lonesome Traveler sucks.

>>1247219
Hm, I guess I'll steer clear for now. I was hoping he'd be something like Hesse, Mann, or Maugham (i.e. use Buddhism acutely).

OP, damn you guys are being reasonable. I was hoping to spark a really unreasonable argument.

>>1247203
OP, were you assigned to read this book for an English class? Half of my fucking class is reading On the Road. (I'm bringing The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test in to troll all the wannabe hippies)

>just read On The Road
>just started reading The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test
>see this thread
>areyouawizard.jpg
Anyway, do any of you have any recommendations for something like The Dharma Bums (haven't read it yet, but I got a pretty good idea I think) without the try-hard Buddhism? (I'd love to read a book with Buddhism in it but not that kind please).

>>1247268
Siddhartha by Hesse

>>1247275
Noted. Anything that plays around the 40's-50's and deals with the beat generation and all that would be nice too.

>>1247258

>hippies
>Beat lit

Someone doesn't know the difference between sub-cultures.

>>1247279
Naked Lunch by Burroughs
Stuff by Ginsberg as well

>>1247286
Alright, I have Howl as an audiofile already but still have to listen to it completely sometime. Is Neal Cassady's stuff worth reading at all?

>>1247283
I know its beat. But everyone's reading it because they think its a hippie book.

>>1247294
His energy comes through in some of his letters, but The First Third or whatever is not good. Search "joan anderson letter", I think someone has it on their myspace

>>1247286

Glad I said someone then.

And lol at your classmates.

I don't get the hate for On The Road. I wouldn't call it a really "deep" book, but I think it was beautifully written, the prose was incredible and although you can tell that Kerouac's vision of the world was very naive, that book warmed up my heart and helped me get through some hard times in my life.

"Well I went down to the East coast for a bit, went to a party, went back to New York then back again. Then I went to the went coast for a week or so then back to New York"

>>1247337

the old man caught a fish. then some shit happened.

>>1247469
a guy eats a cookie and drinks a cup of tea, then he starts to remember stuff

bam 7 books

>>1247472

I killed an arab. Now I go to jail

bam one influential book

>>1247472

I killed an arab. Now I go to jail

bam one philosophy book

>>1247481
>>1247472
>>1247469

The post you're objecting to is a criticism of the overall plotlessness of the book - that is pretty much all that happened. That's not even an insult to it.

Taking the major event from a different classic work and using it denote the simplicity of the plot by reducing it to merely that event is nowhere near an intelligent or worthwhile refutation of the post you object to. If you were instead to comment on the mundane nature of the action of those works (a bad example: A Farewell to Arms: "I was at the front, then left, then back again, then left", you would be responding in the correct format and actually refuting that post.

Not doing so implies that you possess the usual lack of intelligence and insight that accompanies OtR fanboyism.

>>1247507
Actually, that example is bad.

Nausea; "I sat around and looked at some stuff; also jazz".

>>1247511
"also I hate old men"

I liked On the Road, but mainly because I lust for a life of travel. That and I like the time setting it was written in.

>>1247481
also I dont care about anything

dead ma

Love it for the depiction of an American landscape that has all but ceased to exist. Although I'm betting if someone took the same trip today they could describe things that are just as fascinating

>>1247507
>>1247507

>misses the point

nice try my pseudo-intellectual friend. I was objecting at this anon

>>1247337

because although he is right, the plot isn't terribly intricate, no one likes On the Road because Kerouac keeps us on the edge of our seats with his plot driven narrative, instead we are fascinated with his prose and his naiveness towards the world. But you wouldn't understand because you are more stuck up than that dildo up your ass.

bump

>>1247203
I think the reason it is hated on lit/ is because we are of the wrong generation. It is hard to imagine how groundbreaking and innovative this book was when we live in a world where marijuana is accepted and being a bohemian is considered cool by every douchebag.

Can someone summarize that book for me?

>>1247605
What the fuck? That in no way refutes what he said.

Also, who do you think you are speaking for? No one over fourteen likes Kerouac.

Not liking OtR isn't pretension. It's being a grown up, champ.

There are 3 096 books from the last 200 years that are objectively better

>>1247705
Very true, however this one captured a very interesting sub-culture. It also introduced a new style of prose which is very appealing to some people.

>>1247507
impotent American guy living in Paris, goes on trip to Spain, there's a fight, he leaves for Paris again

am I doing it right?

>>1247707
New style of prose = word vomit with no editing?

That's not new. It's called "a thirteen year old girl's diary."

Kerouac is only interesting to read if you're wondering what the Beats were about. As far as Beats go he was the least interesting of them all, so his work really isn't worth it. It's more interesting as seeing what the media of the time was labelling as Beat. Nothing else.

>>1247805
You are ridiculous, I literally posted this thread for the sole purpose of seeing how many idiots I could get to comment. I was kidding about it being the best, but it isn't word vomit. You are dumb if you can't realize how much this book effected pop culture and literature. I'm not saying it is the greatest book of all time, but you are naive to think it has no value.