Re: Salinger and Eastern Religions
William Hochman (wh14@is9.nyu.edu)
Wed, 22 Sep 1999 08:07:35 -0400 (EDT)
Matt, what's up almost doc?
_An Adventure in Vedanta (J.D. Salinger's Glass Family)_ by Som P. Ranchan
was published in l989 by Ajanta Publications (India) and distributed by
Ajanta Books International, 1-U.B., Jawahar Nagar, Bungalow Road, Delhi
110007.
Ironically, Ranchan does what we've recently been discussing...he has a
strong grasp of Vedanta Hinduism and applies it to Salinger texts. From
the Preface, Ranchan writes: "It is my conviction that Salinger is a
mischievous mystic who has played an interesting game with critics. In
this metaphysical game he has used primarily the Vedanta framework inlaid
with Zen and shakta values." I think Ranchan follows Alsens lead in
trying to see the Glass family as a whole and both do detail some
biographical info about Salinger's religious doings. Ranchan, IMHO, goes
off the deep end though, ending with analysis of Bessie and placing her at
the center of Salinger's cosmos...I also had difficulty with the shoddy
proofreading and tend to consider this the weakest of the 3 religious
books of crit on Salinger.
"Dr. Mrs. Elisabeth Kurian" wrote _A Religious Response to the Existential
Dilemma in the Fiction of J.D. Salinger_ in l992 and I think she does the
best job of studying the multi-religious textures in Salinger's fiction.
Salinger's own religious journey seems a bit off target for me only
because that type of thing rarely makes sense to anyone else...we do know
he has been interested in Judiasm, Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism
becuase of various biographical facts, but how and when he believes
what...?
Yes, I did write my dis on Salinger...sort of. Though I don't recommend it
as readable, it did get me through a difficult time and is helping me
think about a book on Salinger Readers. I can multi-task and would be
happy to contribute to a group bananafish effort and am enjoying the
development of it as support for my own work as well...
My dis was sustained pain--complete conformity to a version of academic
discourse that I hope never to return to...I selected 12 representive
critical texts, analyzed the life out of them, and found that despite
theoretical shifts in critical response, the text is still controlling
more of the response than we like to currently admit...if you are curious
you should seek psychiatric care...maybe Scottie will give you a discount
rate... _Strategies of Critcal Response to the Fiction of J.D. Salinger_
was
accepted by NYU in l994 and can be ordered UMI, 300 N.Zeeb Rd, Ann Arbor,
MI 48106 but I don't recommend it.
will