French Friends,American Allies: Ethnic Dynamics in the Writing of Jack Kerouac

Abstract

The way the scroll text of Kerouac’s On the Road creatively manifests the writer’s unconscious concerns about his dichotomous hybrid French– Canadian–American heritage is analysed. The characters of Gabrielle Kerouac, Henri Cru and Neal Cassady are shown to operate metaphorically to symbolize Kerouac’s tumultuous relationship with the various elements of his genealogy. How the writer’s depiction of, and the protagonist’s allegiances with, these characters, who, respectively, represent French– Canadian maternity, European respectability and American unreliability, betray Kerouac’s covert attempts to reconcile his autobiographical feelings about the dualities implicit in his identity and mirror his efforts to navigate disparate cultural ideologies is examined.     

克鲁亚克小说与禅宗思想

杰克·克鲁亚克在其半自传体小说《荒凉天使》中探寻新的生活方式和思想理念,将垮掉的生活与神圣的禅宗思想糅杂在一起,最终达到虚空的精神境界。《荒凉天使》传递了克鲁亚克个人的禅宗思想感悟,更揭示了那个特殊年代的年轻人寻求自我解脱与认知的自由之路。     

Satori in Paris: Deconstructing the French Connection or the Legend’s Satori

Abstract

The deconstruction of Kerouac’s trip to France in search of his family name and lineage as described in Satori in Paris, published in 1966, is examined, and consideration is also given to the very process of redefining French connections. The novel — a voyage to the end of the night trying to decipher, redefine, and blur the French signs that Kerouac had scattered his Duluoz Legend with — is riddled with many deconstructing elements, which allow for better insight into both the quest Kerouac had set for himself and the meaning of French connections throughout the Legend. ‘What’s in a name’ could precisely be the question and possibly the answer. The deconstructing process initiated in Big Sur is now reaching its ultimate step, jeopardizing the stability of the creation of Duluoz’s and Kerouac’s legend altogether.     

凯鲁亚克“垮掉禅”探析

凯鲁亚克“垮掉禅”与中国禅之间有着千丝万缕的联系。一方面，禅传播到美国之后受到了美国文坛的关注，而且产生了巨大的影响。凯鲁亚克等垮掉派成员以及先前的美国文坛对禅的吸收主要是借用中国禅来反省自我文化，改造本土文化。凯鲁亚克的“垮掉禅”以疯狂、极端著称，在道德上超出了中国禅的界限。另一方面，“垮掉的一代”借鉴吸收了中国禅中“回归自然”、“天人合一”的思想，主张回归自然，寻求内心的平静与顿悟，这使得“垮掉禅”背后深层次的精神意义突显出来。     

《达摩流浪者》——杰克·凯鲁亚克的一本献给美国寒山的小说

在基于史料的基础上,从变异学角度论述垮掉派作家杰克·凯鲁亚克的半自传体虚构小说《达摩流浪者》是如何将中国唐朝诗僧寒山的神秘东方形象、《寒山诗》译者美国诗人加里·斯奈德与主人公贾菲·赖德合为一体的。通过文化迁移的作用,作者成功地将主人公赖德变异,塑造为小说中的美国垮掉派反主流文化的英雄偶像,从而使得现实中的斯奈德成为美国寒山的杰出代表,也使得这本小说不仅是作者献给中国寒山的书,也是一本献给美国寒山的书。     

Minute Particulars of the Counter- Culture: Time,Life, and the Photo-poetics of Allen Ginsberg

Abstract

Recent exhibitions of Allen Ginsberg’s photographs, which feature 1950s snapshots of his fellow-Beats Jack Kerouac and William Burroughs, have been dismissed by some as marketing exercises for the Beat myth that promote their biocentric image. Ginsberg himself invited comparisons between his work and Robert Frank’s The Americans. However, a detailed material analysis of his work as a poet-photographer, paying close attention to his handwritten captions, recognises it as a complex hybrid that extends his prophetic poetics. In particular, contextualising his work in relation to the 1950s photojournalism of Life and Time establishes the ways in which Ginsberg, and Burroughs, responded to the attacks made on the Beats in those magazines on behalf of Henry Luce’s ‘American Century’.     

“垮掉一代”的反叛与精神突围——解读《达摩流浪者》中的寒山

20世纪中叶,美国"垮掉一代"文学运动的代表人物杰克.凯鲁亚克(Jack Kerouac)创作了一部颇具影响力的著作——《达摩流浪者(》The Dharma Bums)。此书创造性地将中国唐朝天台山诗僧寒山请上了美国"背包革命"的讲坛,不仅使"垮掉一代"的文化反叛与探索通过寒山实现了一次精神突围,也让寒山在西方获得了新生,凸显了东西文化交流时相互融汇沟通而又具独特个性的特点。