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Buddhism and Hinduism have spread in the US largely through texts and are now recognizable facets of American literature and culture. But the US has defined itself through goal-oriented individualism, whereas Buddhism and Hinduism teach that individuality is a delusion and thus worldly desires are misguided. Given this apparent contradiction, what can Buddhist and Hindu influences offer American identities? Enlightened Individualism explores how post-1945 American writers, including Jack Kerouac, Alice Walker, and Maxine Hong Kingston, have tried to answer this question. Playing on enlightenment as both Anglo-American liberalism and Asian mysticism, this book argues that recent American literature seeks to reconcile seemingly incompatible liberal models of individual autonomy with Buddhist and Hindu ideals of transcending selfhood. This “enlightened individualism” uses Buddhist and Hindu philosophy to reframe American freedom in terms of spiritual liberation, and it also reinterprets Asian teachings through Western traditions of political activism and countercultural provocation. Garton-Gundling argues that even though works by Kerouac, Walker, Kingston, and others wrestle with issues of exoticism and appropriation, their characters are also meaningfully challenged and changed by Asian faiths. These literary adaptations, then, can help Americans reenvision individualism in a more transcendent and cosmopolitan context.
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enlightened individualism Buddhism and Hinduism in American Literature from the Beats to the Present KYLE GARTON-GUNDLING E N L I G H T E N E D I N D I V I D UA L I S M L I T E R AT U R E , R E L I G I O N , A N D P O S T S E C U L A R S T U D I E S Lori Branch, Series Editor ENLIGHTENED INDIVIDUALISM BUDDHISM AND HINDUISM IN AMERIC AN LITER ATURE FROM THE BE ATS TO THE PRESENT KYLE GARTON-GUNDLING T H E O H I O S TAT E U N I V E R S I T Y P R E S S C O LUM BU S Copyright © 2019 by The Ohio State University. All rights reserved. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Names: Garton-Gundling, Kyle, author. Title: Enlightened individualism : Buddhism and Hinduism in American literature from the Beats to the present / Kyle Garton-Gundling. Other titles: Literature, religion, and postsecular studies. Description: Columbus : The Ohio State University Press, [2019] | Series: Literature, religion, and postsecular studies | Includes bibliographical references and index. Identifiers: LCCN 2018048090 | ISBN 9780814213926 (cloth ; alk. paper) | ISBN 0814213928 (cloth ; alk. paper) Subjects: LCSH: American literature—20th century—History and criticism. | Buddhism in literature. | Hinduism in literature. | Beats (Persons) in literature. | Literature and transnationalism. Classification: LCC PS225 .G38 2019 | DDC 810.9/38294—dc23 LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018048090 Cover design by Susan Zucker Text design by Juliet Williams Type set in Adobe Minion Pro CONTENTS Acknowledgments INTRODUC TION CHAPTER 1 CHAPTER 2 CHAPTER 3 vii 1 Beat Buddhism and American Freedom: Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac, and Tom Robbins 28 Anti-Beat Reactions and Mainstream Mysticism: J. D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey and Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance 61 Secret Rituals and American Autonomy: Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland and Don DeLillo’s Underworld 87 Asian Religions and African Dreams: Alice Walker and Charles Johnson 118 Buddhist Nonself and Asian American Identity: Lan Cao’s Monkey Bridge and Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Fifth Book of Peace 154 179 Works Cited Index 189 209 CHAPTER