Filed in Books & Media

How to Be in the World

J. D. Salinger and a Zen koan for authenticityHenry Shukman

Wisdom Collection

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“What is the sound of one hand clapping?” J. D. Salinger inscribed in the opening pages of Nine Stories. An epigraph made in heaven: What on earth were his readers going to make of that? Whatever it was, coming from him it had to be good—precious, tender, not to be found in the phony world that stretched beyond the household of the Glass family. “A Zen Koan,” he added underneath.

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