Nihilism In Jack Kerouac's Works

Jack Kerouac is one of the representatives of American writers of “The Beat Generation”.He became a high-profile American writer in the mid-20 th century for his unique works and deviant way of writing.His works-On the Road and The Dharma Bums-are studied in the paper to discover nihilism.The previous researches on Jack Kerouac were mainly oriented at connotation and ideological culture of his works while lack of nihilism demonstrated in the works.Based on the above,nihilism is elaborated from the perspective of relations among people and things,thus discovering nihilism embodied in his works and showing its great influence on modern people.Nihilism was a critical issue in the process of American modernization in the 20 th century.From the theoretical viewpoint of Nietzsche and Heidegger,it examines Kerouac's works which reflect Americans' living status in the 1950 s.In the course of modernization,nihilism unique to America gradually emerged,producing effect on people as well as anything relevant to them and weakening the existence of human beings.In this way,Kerouac endeavored to find ways for modern people perplexed by nihilism,which endows great significance with the research on his works.Serious problems of American society in the mid-20 th century are proposed in them,conducive to dealing with nihilism.