Salinger Zen
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Sat, 06 Jun 1998 17:40:16 +1000
> Like I asked before my question was drowned out by the FAQ people: who
is
> interested in talking about Salinger and Zen? Even if it's in the FAQ,
even
> if it's been discussed already, isn't it a topic more suitable to this
list
> than punk rock?
YES! I would love to talk about this topic - I proposed it awhile back but
it got lost in the ridiculous FAQ business (people, please - one hand
clapping??? Franny pregnant??? Both delightful, discussable conundrums and
let's leave it that way)
I did an assignment a couple of years back (it was kind of a mini-thesis)
on the relation between Salinger, Buddhism and Sri Ramakrishna, which I
believe is undeniable. There is, for example, all sorts of correlations
between `The Catcher in the Rye' and the life stories of both Sri
Ramakrishna and Gautama Buddha. The latter's story for example, is that he
went to the great metropolis in India but was disillusioned by, for want of
a better term, all the phonies. He goes wandering, and studies under many
teachers (Carl Luce, Mr Antolini et al) none of which wholly satisfy him.
Finally, beside a river he has his moment of satori, or spontaneous
enlightenment, about the circle of life (just like Phoebe's merry-go-round)
and primarily about the fact that the only way to live life is to let go of
the belief that you can control it.
There are more parallels that I can't remember (there's a forest of wild
animals in there somewhere, which correlates to Holden and Phoebe going to
the zoo) but to me it's the only way Catcher can properly be unravelled.
I'm in the middle of trying to find the whole assignment - when I do I
promise I will post it on Bananafish!
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE
www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442