Friday, December 21, 2018

Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums Chapter 3 in one sentence

Yabyum position

If you've been following along, we've been reading a chapter at a time in Jack Kerouac's The Dharma Bums and summarizing each chapter in one sentence.Your assignment for today was to read Chapter 3 and summarize it. Below is my one-sentence summary -- post yours as a comment. I'd also love to see general comments about the chapter, or questions.


The Dharma Bums Chapter 3 in one sentence:
Living in Berkeley with Alvah Goldbrook, Ray visits Japhy's spartan shack and catches him sitting crosslegged while translating Han Shan's "Cold Mountain" (this book is dedicated to Han Shan), accepts a cup of tea from Japhy and listens to a description of the tea ceremony, after which Ray weighs in on some of Japhy's translations and accepts Japhy's offer to climb the Matterhorn in the High Sierras with Henry Morley, listens to Japhy's critique of vegetarians, asks Japhy what "yabyum" is (Japhy promises to tell him later), and notes how this interaction had been quite different from the night at the Gallery Six.


Your next assignment is to read The Dharma Bums Chapter 4 and be prepared to post a one-sentence summary.

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