Wednesday, February 13, 2008

Kerouc's Rocking Chair.

(Scene: Emerson has stopped by for tea at Kerouac's current residence. Kerouac, barefoot sits in a rocking chair. Recognizing Emerson, Kerouac smiles and pulls out a crate, and calls out "pine woods!").
"But never can any advantage be taken of nature by a trick The spirit of the world, the great calm presence of the Creator, comes not forth to the sorceries of opium or of wine. The sublime vision comes to the pure and simple soul in a clean and chaste body" (p.733).
Having recently read "The Dharma Bums" by Jack Kerouac I was greatly impressed with his respect and admiration of nature and the simple and serene. Kerouac, while traveling throughout the West, maintained this simplicity, taking to the mountains, living outside or in a shack (consistent with Emerson's belief that a poet should live "so low" on page 734) and writing all the while. His writing reveals a belief in the interconectedness of people and nature. When he camps with Japhy and hikes in California, Kerouac writes of "Buddha" and "Dharma", which conects all things.
While Emerson and Kerouac share a similar love for nature, their styles and religious beliefs are differing...however, Emerson accentuated content over form...so maybe he would be forgiving of that. And Emerson references a higher power on frequent occasions. So he could forgive that as well. What I find Emerson would frown upon was Kerouac's drug use that ultimately affected his writing. These two writers wrote ENTIRELY different genres (and generally wouldn't be compared against one another), but the first person I thought of was Kerouac when Emerson discussed what he called "tricks".
Kerouac would meditate in the woods for days, seeking communion with his suroundings and Buddha. He sought truth and on many different occasions tried to convince his family and acquaintances about this truth through his writings and verbally. Emerson would find his "wisdom" superficial because truth cannot be found without a pure/natural soul. Thus, Kerouac's writings as a whole could not be perceived as truth through Emerson's viewpoint.

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