The dharma bums

"The Dharma Bums" appeared just one year after the author's explosive "On The Road" had put the Beat Generation on the literary map and Kerouac on the best-seller list.

The same expansiveness, humour and contagious zest for life that sparked the earlier novels sparks this one too, but through a more cohesive story.

The books follow two young men engaged in a passionate search for dharma or truth.

Their major adventure is the pursuit of the Zen way, which takes them climbing into the high sierras to seek the lesson of solitude.