The failure of language in Malcolm and on the roadJohn Clellon Holmes in his essay “The Philosophy of the Beat Generation” described his young contemporaries as deeply spiritual; for him, the very eccentricity of the fifties, with their characteristic sexual promiscuity, drug addiction, petty crime and heterodox forms of self-expression, was an attempt to assert one's individuality in the atmosphere of pervasive conformity of that golden age. And judging by the literature of that era, four decades later, one might conclude that the incessant search for oneself was indeed the very essence of that era. The formation of a young protagonist's identity (or its failure) is the dominant motif of the two seminal works of the period: James Purdy's Malcolm and Jack Kerouac's On the Road, published in 1959 and 1957 respectively; their central characters, Dean Moriarty and Malcolm, cut off from the primary source of their identity, their fathers, are in search of rediscovering contact with this most fundamental aspect of their individuality. Defining oneself in relation to language is an essential part of this approach. quest. There is a certain magnetism in Malcolm and Dean that appeals to tramps, billionaires, singers and bohemians alike; but whatever the nature of their charm, it is not linguistic. Indeed, Malcolm and Dean are at odds with standard English. Malcolm's verbal innocence makes him an outsider to any circle he finds himself in; the pattern of corruption in the novel therefore requires that his mentors introduce him to the vocabulary that represents yet another aspect of the villainy into which they are supposed to "break in." This is a daunting task, given how Malcolm is a... middle of paper... y appropriate, were the heroes of the generation (Krupat 407). Purdy's novel, on the other hand, denies its All-Man a father, humanity its God, and the world any meaning. Works Cited Adams, Stephen D. James Purdy. London: Vision, 1976. Holmes, John C. “The Philosophy of the Beat Generation.” On the road. Text and criticism. By Jack Kerouac. Ed. Scott Donaldson. New York: Penguin, 1979. 367-79. Kerouac, Jack. On the road. Ed. Scott Donaldson. New York: Penguin, 1979. Krupat, Arnold. “Dean Moriarty as a holy hero.” On the road. Text and criticism. By Jack Kerouac. Ed. Scott Donaldson. New York: Penguin, 1979. 397-411. Lorch, Thomas M. "Purdy's Malcolm: A Unique Vision of the Radical Void." » Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature. 6 (1965): 204-13. Purdy, James. Malcolm. London, New York: Serpent's Tail, 1994.