Zen in the Art of J. D. Salinger

by Gerald Rosen

Libro usado en buenas condiciones, por su antiguedad podria contener señales normales de uso

38 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 1977

Reviews

[Harris]

I stole this from the rare book room of the n lamar half price books ten years ago but never read it cus I was horrified of anything that wasn’t pure fiction at the time.

It’s a cute little essay that didn’t give me quite what I wanted but was enjoyable nonetheless.

[Longfellow · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rosen’s essay is a standard literary analysis that will interest avid Salinger readers. The last few pages do the best job of making a convincing point, which is that Holden’s conflict in The Catcher in the Rye is largely an internal one, created by his fear of death, his resistance to change, and his disillusionment with a dominant culture that doesn’t share his values; ultimately, his character achieves its dynamic quality by following a Buddhist path.

The essay’s middle section explains clear connections to Buddhist themes, but not all of Rosen’s logical conclusions are convincing. My pet peeve critique is that the title isn’t well-chosen. For one thing, Zen Buddhism is a distinct approach within the Buddhist religion, and Rosen neither makes this distinction nor bothers to use the word “Zen” until page 32 (out of 38), though there are references to Buddhist concepts throughout. Additionally, while the title promises a large scope with “the Art of J.D. Salinger,” the essay is primarily an interpretation of The Catcher in the Rye, with a few sprinkled references to Franny and Zooey and a couple shorts from Nine Stories.


Notes & redundancies:
While the title is a not particularly clever reference to Robert Pirsig’s famous book, it’s also not a particularly well-chosen title for the essay’s content. For one thing, I’m over halfway through and I can’t remember the word “Zen” being used once in Rosen’s analysis. There are plenty of references to Buddhism, but Rosen doesn’t appear to be aware--or at least doesn’t take into account--that Zen is a particular path of thought within Buddhism rather than synonymous with Buddhism in its general sense.

Additionally, the title promises a treatment of “the art of Salinger,” but aside from several references to Franny and Zooey and a couple shorts from Nine Stories, Rosen spends all his time analyzing Catcher. There’s not much more to Salinger’s catalog, but some treatment of Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: an Introduction seems necessary to deliver on the promise of the title.

As for Rosen’s argument, he has connected the links in his chain, but the logic is tenuous enough that it fails to be particularly convincing. Okay, Holden is fearful of death and thus averse to aggression and sex (he also values empathy). The analyses of individual scenes show these observations to be true (Holden is obsessed with death, he does always choose empathy, and he does avoid aggression) but the link between his fear of death and these other things is basically only a claim-statement by Rosen; he hasn’t made the evidence of this connection convincing.

First explicit mention of Zen on page 32 (of a 38 page essay).
All Zen references are in the last six pages, and only one of them provides more than a Zen quote; that one does a great job of demonstrating a Zen concept in Holden’s experience in Catcher, and the whole final section shows Holden’s step toward detachment, i.e. letting go, that allows him to emerge as a dynamic character, one willing to accept change and willing to let go of the desire that brings disillusionment, which causes suffering.