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Since its publication in 1957, On the Road has too often caught the attention of reviewers upon Jack Kerouac's novels. His writing style—which he named “spontaneous prose”--has always attracted critics, for example Douglas Malcolm and James Campbell have studied Kerouac’s spontaneous prose method in On the Road, however, Paul Michael Arendt holds different opinions that more attention should be paid to other novles of Kerouac, also the studying area should surpass On the Road and his spontaneous prose method. Although, more recently many have chosen to focus upon the roles of race, class and gender. Critics have too often emphasized Kerouac’s On the Road on not his work itself but the author’s continued studying with structure and texture, form and style. When it comes to studies in China, among those commentators, SunYajie(2008) thinks that, by betraying and breaking the ancient rules, the true content and meaning of behaviors in the Beat Generation is rediscovering their identity and self-redemption; Zhang Yi(2005) says that, the occurrence of the“beat movement” has many reasons which is a result of many special historical and political causes; Cai Rui(2010)believes that, the novel---On the Road has had great influence on Chinese modern poetry and novel.
After a brief discussion about what the earlier studies are, the whole essay is devoted to a survey of the counterculture elements in the context mainly based on Heidegger’s existentialist and Freud’s anti-rationalism theories. According to Heidegger, people of the modern society have lost their true-self in the “everydayness”, and are absorbed by day-to-day routine, they have forgotten the truth that they are unique and are cheated by an inauthentic, artificial world. In order to find back authenticity and their true-self, one must firstly be conscious of “Dasein”, which can be illustrated as one’s explanation of death and time, and the explanation is different from conventional, mechanical meanings. Through the pursuit of authenticity, one has to take the steps to rebel against the fixed rules and chase after a different lifestyle like worshiping mother-nature. In addition, by referring to the Freud, all human’s behaviors are driven lastly by libido, the prime psychic force--sexual energy. But due to the powerful social taboos linked to certain sexual impulses, many of our desires and memories are repressed. So in the thesis, by using these two theories, it is aimed to discover the counterculture elements in On the Road, including “anti-tradition”, “anti-materialism,” and “anti-rationalism”, which are the main embodiments of counterculture in the 1960s.
There are mainly two parts in this paper: the first part contains a brief introduction to America in the 1960s, the novel On the Road and its author--Jack Kerouac. On the one hand, Kerouac was deeply influenced by what he had experienced at that time, and on the other hand, his words and thoughts in the novels exert great influence on his worshipers; in the second part, analysis about the counterculture elements reflected in the novel will be listed out. If one wants to find the way to an authentic self, he has to be conscious of “Dasein” and be brave enough to break the old traditions; if one wants to find a way to the revival of Nature, he has to eliminate the boundary such as human/nature; if one wants to find a way to transcendence, he has to quit what the society lay on him about rationalism and stubborn rules.
1. America in the 1960s, Jack Kerouac, and On the Road
Just like all kinds of significant figures in history, the existence of them, such as Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr, all has its particular reason especially the historical and social background. So is Jack Kerouac, when it comes to the 1960s, it can be viewed as one of the most important time in the 20th century American history. Great figures create great events, so is Kerouac, because his works and the ideas in his works influence the public, especially the youth in America in the aspect of leading the youth to try a distinctive lifestyle. What’s more, his novels, as a typical culture phenomenon, creates a brand new writing style and his worldview expressed in the novel attracts lots of writers in China to follow him.来~自^751论+文.网www.751com.cn/