Nowicki, Brian

Terkla, Faculty Advisor, Dan

English

Digital Commons @ Illinois Wesleyan University

Illinois Wesleyan UniversityDigital Commons @ IWUJohn Wesley Powell Student ResearchConference 1998, 9th Annual JWP ConferenceApr 18th, 11:00 AM - 11:15 AMWandering on His Way: An Examination ofKerouac's Spiritual Progress through TheSubterraneans and The Dharma BumsBrian NowickiIllinois Wesleyan UniversityDan Terkla, Faculty AdvisorIllinois Wesleyan UniversityFollow this and additional works at: http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/jwprcThis Event is brought to you for free and open access by The Ames Library, the Andrew W. Mellon Center for Curricular and FacultyDevelopment, the Office of the Provost and the Office of the President. It has been accepted for inclusion in Digital Commons @ IWU bythe faculty at Illinois Wesleyan University. For more information, please contact digitalcommons@iwu.edu.©Copyright is owned by the author of this document.Nowicki, Brian and Terkla, Faculty Advisor, Dan, "Wandering on His Way: An Examination of Kerouac's SpiritualProgress through The Subterraneans and The Dharma Bums" (1998). John Wesley Powell Student Research Conference. 3.http://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/jwprc/1998/oralpres2/3THE JOHN WESLEY POWELL STUDENT RESEARCH CONFERENCE .. APRIL 1998 Oral Presentation 2.3 WANDERING ON HIS WAY: AN EXAMINATION OF KEROUAC'S SPIRITUAL PROGRESS THROUGH THE SUBTERRANEANS AND THE DHARMA BUMS Brian Nowicki and Dan Terkla* Department of English, lllinois Wesleyan University By writing from the "jewel center of interest. . .  at the moment of writing," as described in Kerouac's "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose" (PBR 58), Kerouac constructs in The Subterraneans a brutally confessional and honest representation of  Leo Percepied's emotional state following his breakup with Mardou Fox, the emotional effects of which Ray Smith seeks to reconcile in The Dharma Bums. The movement from Leo's emotional instability to Ray's meditative wanderings is best illustrated by looking to their complementary characters, Mardou Fox and Japhy Ryder, respectively. By examining the language and style of both narratives, one can uncover the needs of both Leo and Ray and fmd whether or not Ray represents the realization of Leo's needs. Kerouac's "Essentials of Spontaneous Prose" lay the groundwork for the logic behind The Subterraneans. The guidelines call for focusing on a singular image, idea, or experience from which ideas, associations, and impressions flow uninterrupted by unnecessary punctuation, pauses, and formal structures. To preserve the free-flowing nature of the work and its spontaneity, there can be no revisions, no insertions, and no rethinking of the thought after the thought is complete. The unconscious must be free of "social, psychological, and grammatical restrictions . . .  [in order to] free itself from its muteness and take verbal shape in the outside world" (DLB 292). The object of the exercise is to overcome the hindrance of language and formality which prevent the communication of essential meaning to the reader-the writing should ideally come from the unconscious and appeal to the reader's unconscious so that the reader experiences the text in a near "telepathic shock" (PBR 57). The characteristics of the narratives in question, The Subterraneans and The Dharma Bums, reflect Kerouac's personal approach to writng, which in this case serve to present-readers with an intensely confessonal and provacative examination of the events of life. 

Wandering on His Way: An Examination of Kerouac\u27s Spiritual Progress through \u3cem\u3eThe Subterraneans\u3c/em\u3e and \u3cem\u3eThe Dharma Bums\u3c/em\u3e

https://digitalcommons.iwu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1393&amp;context=jwprc

Wandering on His Way: An Examination of Kerouac\u27s Spiritual Progress through \u3cem\u3eThe Subterraneans\u3c/em\u3e and \u3cem\u3eThe Dharma Bums\u3c/em\u3e

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