The Emergence of Buddhist American Literature

by Whalen-Bridge, John; Storhoff, Gary; Kingston, Maxine Hong; Johnson, Charles (AFT)

• ISBN13: 9781438426549
• ISBN10: 1438426542
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2010-01-01
• Publisher: State Univ of New York Pr

Summary

The encounter between Buddhism and American literature has been a powerful one for both parties. While Buddhism fueled the Beat movement’s resounding critique of the United States as a spiritually dead society, Beat writers and others have shaped how Buddhism has been presented to and perceived by a North American audience. Contributors to this volume explore how Asian influences have been adapted to American desires in literary works and Buddhist poetics, or how Buddhist practices emerge in literary works. Starting with early aesthetic theories of Ernest Fenollosa, made famous but also distorted by Ezra Pound, the book moves on to the countercultural voices associated with the Beat movement and its friends and heirs such as Ginsberg, Kerouac,Snyder, Giorno, Waldman, and Whalen. The volume also considers the work of contemporary American writers of color influenced by Buddhism, such as Maxine Hong Kingston, Charles Johnson, and Lan Cao. An interview with Kingston is included.

Table of Contents

Foreword	p. ix
Acknowledgments	p. xi
Introduction	p. 1
Literature as Vehicle: Transmission and Transformation
The Emptiness of Patterned Flux: Ernest Fenollosa's Buddhist Essay "The Chinese Written Character as a Medium for Poetry"	p. 21
Gary Snyder's Selective Way to Cold Mountain: Domesticating Han Shan	p. 45
John Giorno: Buddhism, Poetry, and Transgression	p. 63
Buddhadharma and Poetry without Credentials	p. 83
Zen, Vajrayana, and the Avant-Garde: A Pluralistic Poetics
Finger Pointing at the Moon: Zen and the Poetry of Philip Whalen	p. 103
Keeping Vision Alive: The Buddhist Stillpoint in the Work of Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg	p. 123
Illumination Through the Cracks: The Melting Down of Conventional Socio-Religious Thought and Practice in the Work of Gary Snyder	p. 139
The American Poetic Diamond Vehicle: Allen Ginsberg and Anne Waldman Re-Work Vajrayana Buddhism	p. 155
Widening the Circle: Buddhism and American Writers of Color
Buddhism, the Chinese Religion, and the Ceremony of Writing: An Interview with Maxine Hong Kingston	p. 177
A Bridge between Two Worlds: Crossing to America in Monkey Bridge	p. 189
'Opening the Hand of Thought': The Meditative Mind in Charles Johnson's Dr. King's Refrigerator and Other Bedtime Stories	p. 207
Afterword	p. 229
List of Contributors	p. 243
Index	p. 247
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