{"product_id":"enlightened-individualism-kyle-garton-gundling-9780814213926","title":"Enlightened Individualism: Buddhism and Hinduism in American Literature from the Beats to the Present","description":"Buddhism and Hinduism have spread in the US largely through texts and are now recognizable facets of American literature and culture. But the US has defined itself through goal-oriented individualism, whereas Buddhism and Hinduism teach that individuality is a delusion and thus worldly desires are misguided. Given this apparent contradiction, what can Buddhist and Hindu influences offer American identities? \u003ci\u003eEnlightened Individualism \u003c\/i\u003eexplores how post-1945 American writers, including Jack Kerouac, Alice Walker, and Maxine Hong Kingston, have tried to answer this question. Playing on \u003ci\u003eenlightenment \u003c\/i\u003eas both Anglo-American liberalism and Asian mysticism, this book argues that recent American literature seeks to reconcile seemingly incompatible liberal models of individual autonomy with Buddhist and Hindu ideals of transcending selfhood. \u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e This \"enlightened individualism\" uses Buddhist and Hindu philosophy to reframe American freedom in terms of spiritual liberation, and it also reinterprets Asian teachings through Western traditions of political activism and countercultural provocation. Garton-Gundling argues that even though works by Kerouac, Walker, Kingston, and others wrestle with issues of exoticism and appropriation, their characters are also meaningfully challenged and changed by Asian faiths. These literary adaptations, then, can help Americans reenvision individualism in a more transcendent and cosmopolitan context.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Kyle Garton-Gundling\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-10:\u003c\/b\u003e 0814213928\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN-13:\u003c\/b\u003e 9780814213926\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e Ohio State University Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eLanguage:\u003c\/b\u003e English\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 03\/14\/2019\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 228\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormat:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.11lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.69d","brand":"Kyle Garton-Gundling","offers":[{"title":"Hardcover","offer_id":48086913941759,"sku":"9780814213926","price":74.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0662\/2982\/9887\/files\/img_ffec3d75-1ba4-49a6-9ac2-f7b55015f4d9.jpg?v=1769097292","url":"https:\/\/www.whiterainbookhouse.com\/products\/enlightened-individualism-kyle-garton-gundling-9780814213926","provider":"WR Book House","version":"1.0","type":"link"}