The Dharma Bums cover art

The Dharma Bums

Penguin Modern Classics

 Preview

Get 30 days of Premium Plus free

£8.99/month after 30-day free trial. Cancel monthly.
Try for £0.00
More purchase options
Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

About this listen

Brought to you by Penguin.

Jack Kerouac's classic novel about friendship, the search for meaning, and the allure of nature

A witty, moving philosophical novel, Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums is a journey of self-discovery through the lens of Zen Buddhist thought. This Penguin Modern Classics edition includes an introduction by Ann Douglas.

Following the explosive energy of On the Road, the book that put the Beat Genration on the literary map - and Jack Kerouac on the bestseller list - comes The Dharma Bums, in which Kerouac charts the spiritual quest of a group of friends in search of Dharma, or Truth. Ray Smith and his friend Japhy, along with Morley the yodeller, head off into the high Sierras to seek the lesson of solitude and experience the Zen way of life. But in wildly Bohemian San Francisco, with its poetry jam sessions, marathon drinking bouts and experiments in 'yabyum', they find the ascetic route distinctly hard to follow.

© Jack Kerouac 1958 (P) Penguin Audio 2021

 Biographical Fiction Classics Coming of Age Fiction Genre Fiction Literary Fiction Witty
All stars
Most relevant
wonderful narration, just as you imagine kerouac to have spoken himself. a story that takes you on an envious journey where life seemed simpler

ethan hawke carries you through a brilliant story

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I must write 15 words, what is there to say when all things start and end.

This is perfect.

Perfect

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
Quite possibly more relevant today than when it was written. Ethan Hawke perfectly brings the tale to life.

A Life Lived with Passion

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
I read this book as a twenty something whilst I was travelling and loved it then, but listening to this performance as a fifty something I was uplifted and transported by this tale of beatnik Buddhism.
Ethan Hawke is perfect as narrator and bought a new dimension to this work.
Loved it

Amazing

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
It’s hard not to get swept up in Kerouac’s enthusiasm for everything. Ethan Hawkes reading is superb and perfect for Kerouac’s prose.

A gem

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.
See more reviews