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- "If you
meet the Buddha on the road, kill him."-- Lin Chi
The premise of Peter Manseau and Jeff Sharlet's anthology -- a search
for "religion on the road" -- took them around the country. Many of the
stories included in Killing the Buddha have Southern settings --
Henderson, North Carolina; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina; Broward County,
Florida; An Orange Grove, somewhere in Florida; and Nashville, Tennessee
-- which seems appropriate in that very few places embrace religion --
be it fundamentalist, charismatic or neo-traditional -- with the same
fervor as the Bible Belt.
Like many Americans who have rejected, redefined, and/or embraced the
faiths of their childhood, the editors acknowledge their debts to their
parents' beliefs. Peter Manseau is the son of a Catholic priest and a
former nun. He studied religion and literature at the University of
Massachusetts and Boston University. Jeff Sharlet was reared in the
Jewish faith of his father as well as the Pentecostal/Hindu/Buddhist
traditions of his mother. They began working together at a National
Yiddish Book Center. Their collaboration eventually led them to found
the online literary magazine KillingTheBuddha.com .
Killing the Buddha intersperses thirteen stories from the road
with thirteen retelling of the Bible's best-known stories by American
writers. The resulting anthology is extraordinary. A. L. Kennedy,
Francine Prose, Michael Lesy, le' thi diem thuy', April Reynolds, Peter
Trachtenberg, Darcey Steinke, Charles Bowden, Melvin Jules Buklet,
Eileen Myles, Rick Moody, Randall Kenan, and Haven Kimmel approach the
Bible with affection, joy, terror, humor, pathos, and appreciation.
Their essays and stories intertwine creating the kind of book one wants
to share with friends for the sheer pleasure of comparing notes and
debate. Manseau and Sharlet's stories from the road constitute
contemporary Psalms, and are too weird, funny, and ironic to toss off as
one-liners.
Killing the Buddha, subtitled A Heretic’s Bible, has much
to say about the spiritual state of America. Thought-provoking and
fascinating, the editors and authors remind humans that recognizing
faith is more complicated than it seems.
-
Pam Kingsbury
- Southern Scribe
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