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[摘 要]The Beat Generation was a remarkable and well-known literature movement and phenomenon in America of 1950s and 1960s after second world war.The major members contain Jack Kerouac,Allen Ginsberg,William Burroughs and some other writers.On the Road was hailed as the bible of Beat Generation.And this paper tries to analyze Beat Generation by the work of Jack Kerouac's On the Road.It is not only one book but an imaginative condition and a waking feeling to the most people who want to break away from the traditional morals and values.
[关键词]Beat Generation Jack Kerouac on the road
[中图分类号]I106[文献标识码]A[文章编号]1009-5489(2010)06-0101-02
The Beat Generation was the first remarkable literary movement in postwar America.It has been a revolutionary slogan or sign in the aspect of the American lifestyles.Leisurely and carefree,the soul's exposure to God are its key words.Jack Kerouac originated the term Beat Generation.Jack's understanding of the Beat Generation is closely related to his western searching dream and regarded it as the reappearance of the modern hobos and western cowboys.Neal cassady(Dean Moriarty)is the representative of the Beat Generation.Generally speaking,the beat movement,as John Tytell said,was a crystallization of a sweeping discontent with American virtue of progress and power.The beats developed several experimental approaches to novel and poetry which played a vanguard role to the dominance of American literary academic code.
Jack Kerouac is widely recognized as the king of the beats.On the road is his famous second novel which was hailed as the bible of beat generation.His works reflect spiritual torture of the young people under the depressive social conditions.His works mostly finished according to his and his friends'meetings.So he poured amount of feelings while he was describing his achievements.So all the characters and incidents all reflect his own emotions.Dean is Sal's brother,friend,and'second self'and he is the shadow which Kerouac offered for life and after bigger expectations.
Kerouac and his friends were brought up in the period of bad economical depression which made all people feel uneasy.He considered that American people had forgotten his belief American spirits and American dream completely.He wanted to find a position in American society as an outsider.After the writing of on the road,Kerouac finally found his own voice and the real theme.In the work,Kerouac skillfully uses modern creative theories and aesthetic thoughts which not only completely expresses the lifestyles and spirits searching of the"the Beat Generation"but get deeping reflection and meditation to the life of"the Beat Generation"and get deepen meanings of the on the road,which vividly possesses postmodernism characters.
On the Road can be regarded as Sal Paradise's searching book.It tears out the hypocritical covering of 50s American society and it is the prelude of social reform.To Sal Paradise,his friend Dean is"one of the Beat Generation"who is always on the road with soul and heart to get and experience happiness.He masters the key to all mysterious possibilities and colorful courses.He took Dean as his example and went out to check if the free American dream could come true.Dean is the leader of dreams.He lies in the edge of the society and held no illusion to the end of the Road.He looked forward to the prospects and said to credulous Sal.
On the Road is not only one book but an imaginative condition and a waking feelings to most people.The novel offered two great American"brave teachers".Sal and Dean together travel on the road maybe they are the only two existing in the tribe.As for the content,the novel mainly describes a group of youngsters who protest the society from personal position for dissatisfication of the after-war American society and the disgusting of the old generation's greediness,muddiness and utilitarianism.The figures in the novel were disatisified with the old social system and fought against it with their life and work modes.They affirmed self-awareness and self-valuations and regard them as life insight.Just like the name of the book,they always walk on the road,travelling,seeking,founding never stopping.
On the Road explored the youngsters after second world war for American dream searching,specially the beat generation's pursuit and exploitation aobut American dream represented by Dean Moriarty.And from their searching process,we felt beat generation's exploration and pursuit on the spiritual world.Many core figures of beat generation occurred in the book,and this book offered us a good eyesight to explore their American dream and the pilgrimage of seeking dream.
Dean's character even has multiple,contradictory and indeterminate characteristics.The theme of"Deviant"is fully implied on the Dean body who focuses the Beat Generation's most features of anti-authority and anti-tradition.Most of his behaviors are evil,destructive and unthinkable.His dissolute actions can be summerized by one multi-meaning word mad(in the novel which oftenly comes from his mouth and his friends---crazy,confusion,excitement and rudeness.)
Sal closes the novel sitting on a pier during sunset,looking west.He reminisces on God,America,crying children,and the idea that"nobody knows what's going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old"and ends with"I think of Dean Moriarty,I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found,I think of Dean Moriarty."
On the Road has been a huge influence on many poets,writers,and musicians,including Bob Dylan,Jim Morrison,Hunter S.Thompson,and many more."It changed my life like it changed everyone else's".In his review for The New York Times,Gilbert Millstein wrote,"its publication is a historic occasion in so far as the exposure of an authentic work of art is of any great moment in an age in which the attention is fragmented and the sensibilities are blunted by the superlatives of fashion,"and praised it as"a major novel."
But not all the literary critics agreed with the above evaluation.Many of them refused to take Kerouac seriously as a writer but a neurotic.The art of the writing of the novel is not confirmed,too.Gradually,critics and the public began to accept it and consider it a rhetorical document with persuasive significance in helping people to restructure their lives.Many critics realize the social meaning of the book and accept it as one of the major contributing factors leading to the social unrest of the 1960s.
On the Road as the masterpiece Jack Kerouac,it fully annotates the spirits of the beat generation in 1940s America.It was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.It produced huge and profound social influences and at present it implies some advice that cautions the age.So it is a rarely good book for us to understand the era of its pulication and advantageous for us to enrich our literature exploration for the American history.
[参考文献]
[1]Milstein,Gilbert.Review of On the Road.New York:NewYork Times,1957.
[2]Holmes,J.C.The Philosophy of the Beat Generation,in Scott Donaldson,ed.,On the Road.
[3]袁澎.现代西方著名哲学家评传[M].成都:四川人民出版社,1998.
[4]〔美〕撒穆尔•伊诺克•斯通普夫,詹姆斯•菲泽,著.西方哲学史[M].北京:中华书局,2005.
[收稿日期]2010年3月26日
[作者简介]解兰凤(1979～ ):河北衡水人,辽宁大学外国语学院英语语言文学专业2007级硕士研究生。
[关键词]Beat Generation Jack Kerouac on the road
[中图分类号]I106[文献标识码]A[文章编号]1009-5489(2010)06-0101-02
The Beat Generation was the first remarkable literary movement in postwar America.It has been a revolutionary slogan or sign in the aspect of the American lifestyles.Leisurely and carefree,the soul's exposure to God are its key words.Jack Kerouac originated the term Beat Generation.Jack's understanding of the Beat Generation is closely related to his western searching dream and regarded it as the reappearance of the modern hobos and western cowboys.Neal cassady(Dean Moriarty)is the representative of the Beat Generation.Generally speaking,the beat movement,as John Tytell said,was a crystallization of a sweeping discontent with American virtue of progress and power.The beats developed several experimental approaches to novel and poetry which played a vanguard role to the dominance of American literary academic code.
Jack Kerouac is widely recognized as the king of the beats.On the road is his famous second novel which was hailed as the bible of beat generation.His works reflect spiritual torture of the young people under the depressive social conditions.His works mostly finished according to his and his friends'meetings.So he poured amount of feelings while he was describing his achievements.So all the characters and incidents all reflect his own emotions.Dean is Sal's brother,friend,and'second self'and he is the shadow which Kerouac offered for life and after bigger expectations.
Kerouac and his friends were brought up in the period of bad economical depression which made all people feel uneasy.He considered that American people had forgotten his belief American spirits and American dream completely.He wanted to find a position in American society as an outsider.After the writing of on the road,Kerouac finally found his own voice and the real theme.In the work,Kerouac skillfully uses modern creative theories and aesthetic thoughts which not only completely expresses the lifestyles and spirits searching of the"the Beat Generation"but get deeping reflection and meditation to the life of"the Beat Generation"and get deepen meanings of the on the road,which vividly possesses postmodernism characters.
On the Road can be regarded as Sal Paradise's searching book.It tears out the hypocritical covering of 50s American society and it is the prelude of social reform.To Sal Paradise,his friend Dean is"one of the Beat Generation"who is always on the road with soul and heart to get and experience happiness.He masters the key to all mysterious possibilities and colorful courses.He took Dean as his example and went out to check if the free American dream could come true.Dean is the leader of dreams.He lies in the edge of the society and held no illusion to the end of the Road.He looked forward to the prospects and said to credulous Sal.
On the Road is not only one book but an imaginative condition and a waking feelings to most people.The novel offered two great American"brave teachers".Sal and Dean together travel on the road maybe they are the only two existing in the tribe.As for the content,the novel mainly describes a group of youngsters who protest the society from personal position for dissatisfication of the after-war American society and the disgusting of the old generation's greediness,muddiness and utilitarianism.The figures in the novel were disatisified with the old social system and fought against it with their life and work modes.They affirmed self-awareness and self-valuations and regard them as life insight.Just like the name of the book,they always walk on the road,travelling,seeking,founding never stopping.
On the Road explored the youngsters after second world war for American dream searching,specially the beat generation's pursuit and exploitation aobut American dream represented by Dean Moriarty.And from their searching process,we felt beat generation's exploration and pursuit on the spiritual world.Many core figures of beat generation occurred in the book,and this book offered us a good eyesight to explore their American dream and the pilgrimage of seeking dream.
Dean's character even has multiple,contradictory and indeterminate characteristics.The theme of"Deviant"is fully implied on the Dean body who focuses the Beat Generation's most features of anti-authority and anti-tradition.Most of his behaviors are evil,destructive and unthinkable.His dissolute actions can be summerized by one multi-meaning word mad(in the novel which oftenly comes from his mouth and his friends---crazy,confusion,excitement and rudeness.)
Sal closes the novel sitting on a pier during sunset,looking west.He reminisces on God,America,crying children,and the idea that"nobody knows what's going to happen to anybody besides the forlorn rags of growing old"and ends with"I think of Dean Moriarty,I even think of Old Dean Moriarty the father we never found,I think of Dean Moriarty."
On the Road has been a huge influence on many poets,writers,and musicians,including Bob Dylan,Jim Morrison,Hunter S.Thompson,and many more."It changed my life like it changed everyone else's".In his review for The New York Times,Gilbert Millstein wrote,"its publication is a historic occasion in so far as the exposure of an authentic work of art is of any great moment in an age in which the attention is fragmented and the sensibilities are blunted by the superlatives of fashion,"and praised it as"a major novel."
But not all the literary critics agreed with the above evaluation.Many of them refused to take Kerouac seriously as a writer but a neurotic.The art of the writing of the novel is not confirmed,too.Gradually,critics and the public began to accept it and consider it a rhetorical document with persuasive significance in helping people to restructure their lives.Many critics realize the social meaning of the book and accept it as one of the major contributing factors leading to the social unrest of the 1960s.
On the Road as the masterpiece Jack Kerouac,it fully annotates the spirits of the beat generation in 1940s America.It was chosen by Time Magazine as one of the 100 best English-language novels from 1923 to 2005.It produced huge and profound social influences and at present it implies some advice that cautions the age.So it is a rarely good book for us to understand the era of its pulication and advantageous for us to enrich our literature exploration for the American history.
[参考文献]
[1]Milstein,Gilbert.Review of On the Road.New York:NewYork Times,1957.
[2]Holmes,J.C.The Philosophy of the Beat Generation,in Scott Donaldson,ed.,On the Road.
[3]袁澎.现代西方著名哲学家评传[M].成都:四川人民出版社,1998.
[4]〔美〕撒穆尔•伊诺克•斯通普夫,詹姆斯•菲泽,著.西方哲学史[M].北京:中华书局,2005.
[收稿日期]2010年3月26日
[作者简介]解兰凤(1979～ ):河北衡水人,辽宁大学外国语学院英语语言文学专业2007级硕士研究生。