Re: ZOOEYCAM
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Sat, 27 Feb 1999 10:37:44 +1100
Pierrot65 wrote:
> Camille --
>
> I don't know if this agrees with your point or not, but right off the
top of
> my head: Holden as the Catcher in the Rye, a kind of guard at his post,
which
> is on the merry-go-round (an excellent detail to bring up by the way) or
> cycle; the kids are trying to free themselves (even if just intuitively,
by
> the natural course of their growing, with no conscious action of their
own)
> from the cycle, jump off; Holden catches them to keep them on the wheel,
Well, actually he doesn't. Holden recognises that they have to be left
alone, no matter that it's dangerous to jump for those rings. He surrenders
the need to protect them, in accordance with Buddhism's idea that to
achieve happiness one must surrender the quest for control of one's life.
> The typical revelations in zen, as I understand them in my limited
exposure,
> have always felt like empty salvation to me, inspiration in a void: the
> epiphany being that there are no answers, and if that be enlightenment
let me
> stay in the dark.
That's a real shame - I guess Buddhism is ostensibly not quite as
optimistic as Christianity, but the thing I like about it is the fact that
it's all left up to the individual - even Buddha is not a deity to be
worshipped as such but a guide and teacher. I suggest you read up a little
on it - there are lots of good articles and essays about Salinger's use of
Buddhism too - and I'll look around for my oft-posted thesis on the topic.
> Or something. (I've always thought the zen angle, while very
> obviously important to Salinger at the time of writing the Glass stories,
sort
> of counterproductive in understanding the characters as they relate to us
in
> the western world.
I think that if you look into it you'll find a lot to illuminate the
characters and situations. A *lot* of aspects of Salinger's writing were
thrown into high relief by my explorations into the topic. Catcher, for
example, becomes a lot more explicable; so does his approach to the Nine
Stories which I believe is in part an attempt to adapt the ethos of the Zen
koan to a Western audience. Please don't neglect this approach to JDS's
fiction - you'll find it really fruitful! I'm not saying it's the *only*
approach - nothing's the only approach - but not to explore it is sort of
like saying you're an expert on Picasso but you've never seen anything from
his Blue Period (:
> I get the sense that the Eastern
> path led Salinger away from us in the long run and, more importantly,
kept his
> work from us.I can't explain it, but that's the sense I get. Probably
just
> another personal taste issue.)
Possibly. But without this influence just about all of his later fiction
(and I mean Catcher onwards as well as the pre-Catcher Nine Stories) would
either never be written or would be a lot different.
I'll post my thesis as soon as I come across it.
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
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