Bum, zen and high mountains

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The novel Gammler, Zen and Hohe Berge was published in 1963 by Rowohlt Verlag as a translation of the 1958 novel The Dharma Bums by Jack Kerouac . The translation was done by Werner Burkhardt .

action

Kerouac's alter ego Ray Smith hitchhikes through the United States and meets Japhy Ryder ( Gary Snyder ). This is a disciple of Zen Buddhism who introduced Ray into this world. They get to know each other on their joint tours in the mountains. There are parties with jazz, sex and alcohol, as well as conversations with people who try to explain the world with Zen wisdom. When Japhy sets out for Asia to study with a monk, Ray takes Japhy's old job in the loneliness of the mountains. So the story ends on Desolation Peak .

reception

“When I heard 'Gammler, Zen und Hohe Berge' - the stupid German title first made me think of Heinrich Harrer - […] I understood: The fresh wind was coming from the fifties. Handke, Brinkmann, Fauser, Wondratschek - they would not have been possible without the howling storm. "

- Peter Apfl : Date 09/05

“He described the state of spontaneous concentration of perception, which he promoted with the help of Zen meditation, as follows: when you bring everything to a standstill and turn off your mind, in order to actually see something like an eternal and immense flow of electrical power with your eyes closed that is painful groaning. "

- Johannes Berning

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Date (magazine) : Lebensarten 09/05 Howl as an international spark ( memento of the original from September 12, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.date.at
  2. ↑ Johannes Berning: Walking, Looking, Writing Aspects of Perception-Guided Writing . Editorial contributions University of Münster

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