Salinger, Dostoyevsky, and the Orthodox Tradition
- Issue:
- УДК / UDK: 82-821
- DOI:
- Abstract:
The paper addresses the problem of Dostoyevsky’s influence on Salinger, as well as the American writer’s indebtedness to the Orthodox tradition. Salinger’s reference to Dostoyevsky and to the preaching of starets Zosima (The Brothers Karamazov) in the short story “For Esme – with Love and Squalor” (1950) testifies to his interest in the religious tradition of Russian monks. The latter was aptly expressed in “A Way of a Pilgrim”, an English translation of an anonymous Russain book “Otkrovennye rasskazy Strannika dukhovnomu svoemu otzu” (“Sincere Stories Told by a Traveller to His Spiritual Father”). This book plays a specific role in Salinger’s short stories “Franny” (1955), “Zooey” (1957), and “Franny and Zooey” (1961). The author makes Franny a zealous follower of the ideas expressed in the Russian book and endows her brother Zooey with a deep understanding of these ideas. Zooey’s final monologue sounds as a preaching of love and forgiveness, much in the spirit of starets Zosima. The fact that both Dostoevsky and Salinger drew inspiration from this book, one part of which was allegedly authored by Amvrosy Optinsky, the prototype of starets Zosima, supports the idea of Dostoyevsky’s influence on Salinger.
- Keywords: Salinger, “Franny and Zooey”, Dostoyevsky, “The Brothers Karamazov”, Amvrosy Optinsky, “The Way of a Pilgrim”.
- References:
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