Thursday, January 29, 1998
'Dharma' lacks power to enlighten readers
BOOK: Lesser-known Kerouac collection falls short of previous work
By Michael Gillette
Daily Bruin Contributor
The unveiling of an unseen work by Jack Kerouac is undoubtedly a publishing event, and Viking has certainly given "Some of the Dharma" an attractive presentation. But though this new collection of Jack Kerouac writings is folio-sized and has a gorgeous jacket, one shouldn't dream of recommending it as a coffee table purchase.
In fact, "Some of the Dharma" is such a specialized set of writings that it could probably only please the limited audience of Kerouac readers who are studying to become practicing Buddhists.
There is no narrative here, and the closest thing to fiction in the book are Kerouac's poems, which contain all the attributes people point to when ridiculing beat poetry. What the book presents is a collection of notes, observations and instructions presumably designed by Kerouac to record his own journey to Buddhist faith and assist the reader on the same path.
The book's history is related in an introduction by its editor Jack Stanford. He writes that Kerouac began compiling "Some of the Dharma" while awaiting the publication of the already completed "On the Road." At one point he considered the new project, then titled "Buddha Tells Us," so important that he almost halted any attempts to print his other more accessible works. His editor and liaison Malcolm Cowley helped talk him out of this stand.
In 1958 "On the Road" was published to much acclaim. Thirteen novels followed in the next seven years, making up what Kerouac called the Duluoz legend, but "Some of the Dharma" remained unpublished.
Now, however, with the Beat renaissance of the early '90s having made Kerouac a household name and with the increase of American interest in the religions of the east, Viking books has decided that the late '90s can make room for the book that the late '50s couldn't.
The problem for potential readers, though, may be Kerouac's '50s view of his subject. Buddhism in these writings is something new, foreign and exciting.
Kerouac begins by recording its basic tenets from sources he records in his entries and spends the rest of the 400 pages meditating on how they apply to his and the readers' lives.
One feels admiration for the vigor Kerouac employs on the project, but at the same time one winces at the naivete of his endless confessions and epiphanies.
Students approaching Buddhism today would likely not feel as alone as Kerouac did (it's a subject he speaks about at length). And their familiarity would likely lead them to want a more sophisticated book to lead them to enlightenment - and a more organized one.
For the lay reader, there is little, if any interest here. The content is almost completely made up of dry, lengthy philosophizing and meritless poetry. Moreover, the few times Kerouac turns to personal matters, such as his back and forth musings on the spiritual worth of his working on the Duluoz legend, have an unpleasant melodramatic feel.
That having been said, it's worth mentioning, if only as a side note, that just as Kerouac was ahead of his time in his spiritual exploration, he was also a vanguard in the field of adventuresome typesetting. The reader finds on "Some of the Dharma's" pages the same unconventional and not always reader-friendly text arrangements that grace the pages of magazines like Raygun and Bikini today.