Books 16 and 17: Franny, Zooey, and The Way of a Pilgrim

J.D. Salinger, author of the controversial Catcher in the Rye, also wrote Franny and Zooey, which had been sitting in my to be read pile for decades -- always near my nightstand but never on top. Written in the fifties and published together, Franny is a short story and Zooey is a novella and they read like two parts of the same book. In Franny, the reader has a front row seat to a dinner conversation between college coed Franny Glass and her boyfriend Lane. It is a painful view of her experiencing a nervous breakdown as she tells Lane about a book she's been reading. Zooey picks up where Franny leaves off, with Zooey, Franny's older brother, trying to help her even though he has troubles of his own. The reader is again ringside for a philosophical discussion, this time between the siblings in the New York City apartment. 

Maybe this is the book that started it all. After college, I lived with my great-aunt Nell in the small town of Tallassee, Alabama. She and I had some grand adventures while I did a lot of reading - and saved my money to move to Washington, DC. Years later, she asked me, "Jeannie, how many years did you live with me?" I answered, "Aunt Nell, that was six months." Oh how we laughed! (This has been mentioned before, read it here)

I must have read Franny and Zooey during that time, because some of the scenes remain vivid in my mind, tied inextricably with the scent of the large magnolia in Aunt Nell's front yard, the deeply, unnervingly quiet evenings, and the road to town that curved past the well-kept cemetery. Memories of the little book left enough of an impression on me to want to read it again, especially with the prayer, "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me." It seemed like a good addition to this list of spiritual books. 

Franny's breakdown arises because of the dichotomy between her very superficial life and the wanderer in a book called The Way of a Pilgrim. I didn't remember the ties between books and enjoyed discovering this second book. It's about an unnamed Russian peasant from the 1800's who hears the words, "Pray without ceasing." He writes, "I looked at my Bible and with my own eyes read the words which I had heard, that is, that we ought always, at all times and in all places, to pray with uplifted hands. I thought and thought, but knew not what to make of it. 'What ought I do?'"

As simple as this pilgrim's life is, his story is fascinating; the life and times of a Russian peasant, his single-minded pursuit, and the people he meets along the way held my constant attention. And strangely enough, the pilgrim does the same thing Franny does; he refers to another book, The Philokalia, which he holds as dear to him as Franny does The Way of a Pilgrim. We can only assume Salinger copied this book-within-a-book on purpose.

Some favorite quotes: "After no great lapse of time I had the feeling that the prayer had, so to speak, by its own action passed from my lips to my heart." "All my ideas were quite calmed of their own accord. I thought of nothing whatever but my prayer. My mind tended to listen to it, and my heart began of itself to feel at times a certain warmth and pleasure." "Again I started off on my wanderings. But now I did not walk along as before, filled with care. The calling upon the name of Jesus Christ gladdened my way." "Know this, that all those troubles were warded off from you by the protection of the most holy Mother of God because of that short prayer, by which you lifted up your heart every day unto union with God." 

Meanwhile, over a meal (that she doesn't take a single bite of), Franny describes The Way of the Pilgrim and the Jesus Prayer to Lane. She says, "I mean all these really advanced and absolutely unbogus religious persons that keep telling you if you repeat the name of God incessantly, something happens." When Lane asks her, "What is the result?" Franny's answer is perfection. "You get to see God." 

Back in New York City, Franny tells Zooey, "You're saying I want something from the Jesus Prayer --which makes me just as acquisitive, in your word, really, as somebody who wants a sable coat, or to be famous, or to be dripping with some kind of crazy prestige. I know all that!"

He responds with, "...I once had a strong desire to say the prayer myself but didn't. For all I know, I may be a little jealous of your having a go at it. It's very possible, in fact. In the first place, I'm a ham. It may very well be that I hate like hell to play Martha to somebody else's Mary."

Zooey also says, "Jesus realized there is no separation from God." "But most of all, above everything else, who in the Bible besides Jesus knew -- knew -- that we're carrying the Kingdom of Heaven around with us, inside, where we're all too g*d* stupid and sentimental and unimaginative to look?" "When you don't see Jesus for exactly what he was, you miss the whole point of the Jesus Prayer. If you don't understand Jesus, you can't understand his prayer--you don't get the prayer at all, you just get some kind of organized cant." "The Jesus Prayer has one aim and one aim only, to endow the person who says it with Christ-Consciousness."

Before I read these books, I had learned about japa, a Sanskrit word meaning the repetition of a mantra, and I had searched for a mantra that would speak to me. There are many choices, and "Lord Jesus Christ, have mercy on me," is only one. Over time I landed on "Thank you, Higher Power." At first I was doubtful that this was the right choice, but nothing else I tried as a mantra brings me joy, "calms my ideas," and helps me practice the presence of God like these words do.

Besides the connection between J. D. Salinger and the anonymous pilgrim, I've also learned that the film director Wes Anderson has drawn inspiration from Salinger's work, creating The Royal Tenenbaums with the Glass family in mind. These books, and their many offshoots, were definitely thought-provoking and entertaining, and I'm keeping my eye out for more connections.