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Tracing the Dark Night of the Soul in Jack Kerouac‟S Visions of Gerard

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Tracing the Dark Night of the Soul in Jack Kerouac‟S Visions of Gerard i Some Lost Bliss: Tracing the Dark Night of the Soul in Jack Kerouac‟s Visions of Gerard, The Dharma Bums, Desolation Angels, and Big Sur and An excerpt from the novel Mayor of Hollywood Mary-Beth Brophy Ph.D. Creative Writing February 1, 2011 ii Abstract The research and creative portions of this thesis develop from the various responses individuals experience in the wake of a loss. The research into the evolution of faith in author Jack Kerouac‟s „Duluoz Legend‟ and the central storyline of the novel Mayor of Hollywood spring from the same well: the crossroads between death and faith. The research piece concerns itself with Kerouac‟s exploration of the spiritual interior in the wake of the death of his protagonist‟s older brother, developing a personal faith that blends Buddhism and Catholicism unfettered by formal religious practice, mirroring instead an older path of Catholic mysticism. Mayor of Hollywood explores the opposite side of the religious coin: the protagonist, Lucy Cassidy, has little compelling interest in her own spiritual existence but must address the practicalities of her partner‟s formal practice of Catholicism, including dietary restrictions, regular worship, moral strictures, and the religious formalization of the guilt process. At the same time, Lucy and Mark must resolve several deaths that have occurred, substituting the secular path of crime detection for the more spiritual quest to reunite with God. Linked by the shared topic of death, the two halves of the thesis address faith as a whole, exploring the interior and exterior spiritual life. iii Thesis Declarations 1. Candidate’s declarations: I, Mary-Beth Brophy, hereby certify that this thesis, which is approximately 80,000 words in length, has been written by me, that it is the record of work carried out by me and that it has not been submitted in any previous application for a higher degree. I was admitted as a research student in September 2007 and as a candidate for the degree of Ph.D. in Creative Writing in May 2008; the higher study for which this is a record was carried out in the University of St Andrews between 2007 and 2011. Date: February 7, 2011 Signature of Candidate: 2. Supervisor’s declaration: I hereby certify that the candidate has fulfilled the conditions of the Resolution and Regulations appropriate for the degree of Ph.D. in Creative Writing in the University of St Andrews and that the candidate is qualified to submit this thesis in application for that degree. Date: February 7, 2011 Signature of Supervisor: 3. Permission for electronic publication: In submitting this thesis to the University of St Andrews I understand that I am giving permission for it to be made available for use in accordance with the regulations of the University Library for the time being in force, subject to any copyright vested in the work not being affected thereby. I also understand that the title and the abstract will be published, and that a copy of the work may be made and supplied to any bona fide library or research worker, that my thesis will be electronically accessible for personal or research use unless exempt by award of an embargo as requested below, and that the library has the right to migrate my thesis into new electronic forms as required to ensure continued access to the thesis. I have obtained any third-party copyright permissions that may be required in order to allow such access and migration, or have requested the appropriate embargo below. The following is an agreed request by candidate and supervisor regarding the electronic publication of this thesis: iv (iii) Embargo on both all of printed copy and electronic copy for the same fixed period of 5 years on the following ground(s): publication would be commercially damaging to the researcher, or to the supervisor, or the University; publication would preclude future publication. Date: February 7, 2011 Signature of Candidate: Signature of Supervisor: Supporting statement of request for embargo: It is my intention to publish the novel Mayor of Hollywood and to expand and publish the research portion of my thesis. Prior electronic and print publication of the material in my thesis could create barriers to such publication because it would be more difficult to publish for profit something that has already been published for free. v Acknowledgements I would like to thank my primary and secondary supervisors, Meaghan Delahunt and John Burnside, for their guidance and support; and to Sandra McDevitt, postgraduate secretary, for all her help over the past three years. Thanks also to Dr. Dorian Hayes, who, while Curator of Canadian Collections and North American Literature at the British Library, provided me with a bibliography of the Library‟s „Beat‟ holdings, which was invaluable in my Kerouac research; as well as John Walter Pesusich, West Los Angeles Crime Analysis Detail Supervisor, and Michael DePasquale, Detective III, Homicide Coordinator (retired), for their insights into the workings of the Los Angeles Police Department. Finally, this thesis would not have been possible without the support of my parents Daniel and Judith Brophy, and my number one cheerleader Jenny Purple. vi TABLE OF CONTENTS FOREWORD .......................................................................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................ 13 Beat Faith .......................................................................................................................................... 14 Dark Night of the Soul ...................................................................................................................... 16 CHAPTER I: VISIONS OF GERARD—UNIFYING KEROUAC‟S BEAT FAITH ............................ 19 CHAPTER II: THE DHARMA BUMS—RAY SMITH AS THE SPIRITUAL BEGINNER ............... 38 Pride .................................................................................................................................................. 41 Avarice .............................................................................................................................................. 44 Luxury ............................................................................................................................................... 47 Wrath ................................................................................................................................................ 49 Gluttony ............................................................................................................................................ 51 Envy .................................................................................................................................................. 53 Sloth .................................................................................................................................................. 54 CHAPTER III: DESOLATION ANGELS—DULUOZ‟ NIGHT OF SENSE ....................................... 58 CHAPTER IV: BIG SUR—DULUOZ‟ NIGHT OF SPIRIT ................................................................ 79 CONCLUSION ..................................................................................................................................... 95 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................. 98 MAYOR OF HOLLYWOOD EXCERPT ............................................................................................. 101 Foreword 7 FOREWORD This thesis addresses two different points on the literary spectrum—crime fiction and the role of the dark night of the soul—a form of Catholic mysticism—in the novels of Jack Kerouac, and some groundwork is necessary to address the place at which these apparently discrete topics intersect. To that end, it may be helpful to briefly explore both the areas where Kerouac‟s spiritual writing and crime fiction overlap generally and the ways in which my research and creative pieces deal with the quest for understanding in the wake of death, albeit from two different perspectives. Previous scholarship has addressed the connections between crime fiction and religion. In Crime Fiction, 1800-2000: Detection, Death, Diversity, Stephen Knight traces English-language crime fiction back to The Newgate Calendar, collections of crime stories originally published by the chaplain of London‟s Newgate Prison1. In many of these early stories, crimes were solved by divine intervention or confessions induced by Christian guilt2. Martin Priestman highlights a similar spiritual focus in Daniel Defoe‟s Captain Singleton and Moll Flanders, which were published around the same time as early Newgate stories. In both novels, the emphasis is on repentance and spiritual awakening, rather than capture and punishment3. In „The Guilty Vicarage,‟ W.H. Auden suggests that all crime is, in essence, an offense against God4 and identifies G.K. Chesterton‟s Father Brown as one of the three best fictional detectives in his estimation. As Priestman did with Defoe, Auden argues that Chesterton‟s Father Brown emphasizes the importance of the murderer saving his own soul through confession and repentance over societal punishment. Further, Auden identifies Father Brown as an example to the murderers he hunts: „a man who is also tempted to murder, but is able by faith to resist temptation‟5.
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