Enlightened Individualism: Buddhism and Hinduism in American Literature from the Beats to the Present (Literature, Religion, & Postsecular Stud)

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. Enlightened Individualism: Buddhism and Hinduism in American Literature from the Beats to the Present Half Title page Series Title page Title page Copyright page Contents Acknowledgments INTRODUCTION SCOPE, METHODS, AND KEY TERMS TRANSCENDENTALISM GROWING EXCHANGE AND THE WORLD PARLIAMENT MODERNISM WORLD WAR II AND AFTER CHAPTER SUMMARIES CHAPTER 1: Beat Buddhism and American Freedom: Allen Ginsberg, Gary Snyder, Jack Kerouac, and Tom Robbins GINSBERG’S BUDDHIST REVOLUTION SNYDER’S SYNTHESIS KEROUAC’S CONFLICT ROBBINS’S AMBIVALENCE CHAPTER 2: Anti-Beat Reactions and Mainstream Mysticism: J. D. Salinger’s Franny and Zooey and Robert Pirsig’s Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance J. D. SALINGER’S ANTI-BEAT INWARDNESS TRANSCENDING LANGUAGE ANDRELIGION IN FRANNY AND ZOOEY ROBERT PIRSIG AND THE LEGACY OF THE 1960s TAMING THE ROAD IN ZEN AND THE ARTOF MOTORCYCLE MAINTENANCE CHAPTER 3: Secret Rituals and American Autonomy: Thomas Pynchon’s Vineland and Don DeLillo’s Underworld THE TROUBLE WITH TRANSCENDENCE IN VINELAND NINJUTSU: FIGHTING SECRECY WITH SECRECY VINELAND’S LANDSCAPES ANDCROSS-CULTURAL ADAPTATION UNDERWORLD’S SECRET INITIATION UNCANNY MANTRAS INTERFAITH INTERNET CHAPTER 4: Asian Religions and African Dreams: Alice Walker and Charles Johnson WALKER’S ASIAN ALTERNATIVE THE COLOR PURPLE’S IMPERSONAL GOD FROM HINDU TRANSCENDENCE TO BUDDHIST COMPASSION BUDDHISM AND ETHNIC AMERICAN IDENTITIESIN NOW IS THE TIME TO OPEN YOUR HEART JOHNSON’S ASIAN RECONCILIATION MIDDLE PASSAGE’S NONDUAL ANCESTORS MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. AS EASTERN SAGE IN DREAMER KING’S FRAUGHT COUNTERPART CHAPTER 5: Buddhist Nonself and Asian American Identity: Lan Cao’s Monkey Bridge and Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Fifth Book of Peace LAN CAO: INNOVATION AND RECLAMATION CULTURAL DIFFERENCE AND KARMA IN MONKEY BRIDGE FROM KARMA AND SUFFERING TO NIRVANA AND NONSELF MAXINE HONG KINGSTON AND “THE CHINESE RELIGION” FROM ESCAPISM TO ACTIVISM INTHE FIFTH BOOK OF PEACE FORGING BUDDHISM FOR AMERICA AND BEYOND POSTSCRIPT Works Cited Index Titles in the "Literature, Religion, and Postsecular Studies" series 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. 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.0This?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