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Michael Finocchiaro's Reviews > The Dharma Bums
The Dharma Bums
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Jack Kerouac, The Dharma Bums: "Hopping a freight out of Los Angeles at high noon one day in late September 1955 I got on a gondola and lay down with my duffel bag under my head and my knees crossed and contemplated the clouds as we rolled north to Santa Barbara."
Kerouac gives us the rambling masterpiece of a sentence with no punctuation and yet chock-full of description and character. The poverty/liberty of "hopping a freight", the locale firmly rooted in hippy California (Los Angeles, Santa Barbara), the laziness of contemplating the clouds: all of these are central to the narrator's character and his attitude. He is one with the road ("we rolled north") and in a meditative mood and this feeling saturates every page of this rollicking, humorous, orgasmic Beat classic. Just reading the phrase makes me want to throw off all the yokes of society and...ok enough of that...and on to the last one.
Kerouac gives us the rambling masterpiece of a sentence with no punctuation and yet chock-full of description and character. The poverty/liberty of "hopping a freight", the locale firmly rooted in hippy California (Los Angeles, Santa Barbara), the laziness of contemplating the clouds: all of these are central to the narrator's character and his attitude. He is one with the road ("we rolled north") and in a meditative mood and this feeling saturates every page of this rollicking, humorous, orgasmic Beat classic. Just reading the phrase makes me want to throw off all the yokes of society and...ok enough of that...and on to the last one.
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Reading Progress
January 1, 1994
–
Started Reading
January 1, 1994
–
Finished Reading
October 4, 2016
– Shelved
November 14, 2016
– Shelved as:
american-20th-c
November 14, 2016
– Shelved as:
beat-lit
November 14, 2016
– Shelved as:
fiction
November 21, 2016
– Shelved as:
novels
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Michael
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rated it 5 stars
Aug 23, 2018 12:11AM
Agreed!! Or, “the smell of bitter almonds always reminded him of the fate of unrequited love�
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Or “When Gregor Samsa woke up one morning from unsettling dreams, he found himself changed in his bed into a monstrous vermin� by Kafka
Oh, speaking of poor Gregor Samsa, according to Nabokov the kind of insect he turned into can actually fly! All it would have taken was for someone to have opened the window and he could have flown to freedom. Ah, I almost wish someone- preferably Nabokov himself!- would write this alternate ending.
Thanks Nocturnlux! That gives me some ideas!! :-)
Joseph wrote: "As I recall poor old Gregor's main concern was that he was stuck on his back and couldn't get up. I guess Nabokov would have considered that inaccurate, the author failing to research the subject adequately."Heh, but he eventually did manage to roll on his many legs. There is another problem, namely, I'm not too sure the window would have been large enough to allow for Gregor's giant beetle body to squeeze through.
I found Nabokov's thoughts online:
Thanks for the link!
Joseph wrote: "I suppose so but Nabokov probably was thinking of a (butter)fly."As enamored as Nabokov was with butterflies, he meant that Gregor had turned into a kind of beetle that has wings. He is also making a broader point, as is to be expected; I'll leave the quote here for those might be interested:
"Curiously enough, Gregor the beetle never found out that he had wings under the hard covering of his back. (This is a very nice observation on my part to be treasured all your lives. Some Gregors, some Joes and Janes, do not know that they have wings.)"
Of course, I don't think Kafka was terribly interested in the morphology of whatever insect it is Gregor turns into but, somehow, the idea that he had wings all along adds a dose of pathos to what is already a triumph of sad absurdity.
If we think that all it would have taken was for someone to open the window and Gregor could have flown to freedom!
Joseph wrote: "I'm not sure what language Kafka wrote in, Polish I assume, but I am sure whichever it was I have not fluency in it and am at the mercy of the translators. The first version I read used the term "c..."Not Polish, German.
The term in question is vague, probably on purpose, and while it is often translated as 'cockroach' can very well mean 'beetle' as well. The link explains why Nabokov assumed it was 'beetle', he knew his insects and reasons as follows:
"Next question: what insect? Commentators say cockroach, which of course does not make sense. A cockroach is an insect that is flat in shape with large legs, and Gregor is anything but flat: he is convex on both sides, belly and back, and his legs are small. He approaches a cockroach in only one respect: his coloration is brown. That is all. Apart from this he has a tremendous convex belly divided into segments and a hard rounded back suggestive of wing cases. In beetles these cases conceal flimsy little wings that can be expanded and then may carry the beetle for miles and miles in a blundering flight � He is merely a big beetle."
That definitely would have been a more uplifting ending, pun intended!
Prague in the Czech Republic, not Poland
Michael wrote: "Prague in the Czech Republic, not Poland"I was about to say that. When Kafka was born it was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.
All that aside- and sorry for hijacking the discussion!- when it comes to insects and their classification, I defer to Nabokov who knew and cared way more about the subject than I ever did or will. I suspect Kafka probably did mean to describe a cockroach but ended up writing what is closest to a giant beetle.
The idea of Gregor had wings all along is very interesting and Nabokov's point, that so many of us have wings but do not even know, is oddly apt.
I'll just add that entomologists have taken note that an insect the size of Gregor would not be viable. That is, of course, beside the point as the short story is not a treaty of naturalism but it's still fun to see that actual experts on insects have chimed in on the subject.
Well, maybe the entomologists haven’t looked closely at the Trump Organization because there are some human sized roaches and maga(t)s jn there! :-) (PS. I know how to spell “maggot� but the pun was fun enough to justify butchering the spelling :-)
