Encountering Buddhism in Twentieth-Century British and American Literature

Alison Winch is lecturer in Cultural Studies at Middlesex University, UK. Lawrence Normand is Principal Lecturer in English Literature at Middlesex University, UK.

• Contributor DetailsIntroduction1. Reincarnation and Selfhood in Olive Schreiner’s The Buddhist Priest’s Wife and UndineErin Louttit2. Shangri-La and Buddhism in James Hilton’s Lost Horizon and W. H. Auden and Christopher Isherwood’s The Ascent of F6Lawrence Normand3. [A] ‘ears of my ears’: e. e. cummings’ Buddhist prosodyErin Lafford and Emma Mason4. Zen Buddhism as Radical Conviviality in the Works of Henry Miller, Kenneth Rexroth, and Thomas MertonManuel Yang5. Radical Occidentalism: The Zen Anarchism of Gary Snyder and Philip WhalenJames Patrick Brown6. Buddhism, Madness and Movement: Triangulating Jack Kerouac’s Belief SystemBent Sørensen7. Biology, the Buddha and the Beasts: The Influence of Ernst Haeckel and Arthur Schopenhauer on Samuel Beckett’s How It IsAndy Wimbush8. ‘That Other Ocean’: Buddhism, Vedanta, and The Perennial Philosophy in Christopher Isherwood’s A Single ManBidhan Roy9. Maxine Hong Kingston’s The Woman Warrior as Mahayana MeditationSarah Gardam10. The Aesthetics of Compassion in Iris Murdoch’s The Sea, the SeaElena Spandri11. Strange Entanglements: Buddhism and Quantum Theory in Contemporary NonfictionSean MillerBibliography

The impact of Buddhist ideas and practices upon western society, especially since the mid- twentieth century, far outweighs the number of people who self-identify as Buddhist. This excellent collection of essays is ground-breaking in its exploration of engagement with Buddhist philosophical ideas and tropes within modern British and American literature. Essential reading for gaining an understanding of 'oriental' influences and tropes within modern literature.