RE: Pilgrim Books
Sean Draine (seandr@microsoft.com)
Tue, 13 Oct 1998 10:01:53 -0700
Recall the author's claim at the beginning of "Zooey" that the story is
about love, not mysticism. I think Salinger is urging the reader here to
interpret the story as one concerned primarily with human beings, not God,
the universe, or other theological beasts.
Was Salinger actually advocating the Jesus prayer as a means to spiritual
transcendence? Great God in heaven, I hope not, because that would really
dumb down the story in my mind. I prefer to think this had to do with the
despairing soul's craving for ritual, for meaning.
It ought to be possible for a story to talk about religion without itself
being religious.
-Sean
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul Janse [mailto:PJanse@compuserve.com]
> Sent: Tuesday, October 13, 1998 12:37 AM
> To: bananafish
> Subject: Pilgrim Books
>
>
> 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 language
> editions. The books are very interesting, especially the
> first one (called
> "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 praying
> 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 stated
> 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
>