Pilgrim Books
Paul Janse (PJanse@compuserve.com)
Tue, 13 Oct 1998 03:37:11 -0400
I suppose everybody here knows that the two Pilgrim books of "Franny and
Zooey" really exist. I had the luck to find, on a second hand book market
,a
complete Dutch translation ("De openhartige verhalen van een Russische
Pelgrim", Patmos, Antwerpen 1978). The first Pilgrim book can be found in
abbreviated form in "A treasure of Russian spirituality" (Sheed and Ward,
London 1950), edited by G.P. Fedotov. There must be other English languag
e
editions. The books are very interesting, especially the first one (calle
d
"The Way of a Pilgrim" in "Zooey"), though there are a few nasty
anti-jewish and anti-islamitic parts.
I often wonder whether atheists are disturbed by the "religious" aspects
of
Salinger's works, especially FaZ. I am no atheist myself. Neither am I a
very religious person, but the "religious", "mystical" side of Salinger's
works fascinates me.
The well known Dutch essayist and atheist Rudy Kousbroek once wrote an
article in which he argued that praying, and in particular Franny's prayi
ng
in FaZ, is only a riual means to ward off despair, that Franny's praying
has nothing to do with believing/religion. He even wrote that it is state
d
in FaZ by the writer himself that the content of the prayer is completely
irrelevant. Despite this complete lack of understanding (in my view) he
still admires the book.
Are there any atheists among you who are bothered by "all this talk about
Jesus" in Faz?
Regards,
Paul Janse
pjanse@compuserve.com