Jack Kerouac - A Dharma csavargói

Not long after the publication of the book of mad dashes, On the Road, Kerouac - who was already the most famous writer of the beat generation - proved with his new novel published in 1958 that he was really not interested in the superficial fashion of the beat movement. His new heroes, Ray Smith and Japhy, are always "on the road" - but this is the road of Buddhism, the Dharma, that is, the "Truth" - and by experiencing the illusory nature of existence, they try to confront the wretched world in which they have to live.
Dharma Vagabonds is Kerouac's other enduring masterpiece, along with On the Road - this "strange, lonely, crazy, Catholic mystic" (as he described himself) recounts with both infinite seriousness and charming self-irony the Buddhist phase of his life when he wanted to give up drink, women and from all harmful earthly callings - to get rid of all pain and fear at the same time. Like many other Westerners, he did not succeed in this either - but a great literature was born from it.