Buddhism and the prospect of nuclear war - photo 1

Buddhism and the prospect of nuclear war

Lot 230
07.12.2022 10:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Starting price
$ 4 000
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
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The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 859749
Lot 230 | Buddhism and the prospect of nuclear war
Estimate value
$ 5 000 – 7 000
KEROUAC, Jack (1922-1969). Typed letter signed (“Jack”) to Ed White, [21 July 1958]. Unpublished.

Quarto. Single leaf; recto only; address added in autograph to upper margin; small smudges. With envelope addressed in autograph, postmarked Northport, New York.

"Sir, comparisons are odious, so this is enough for tonight of planting positive against negative words and creating illusion of thought. Ho Ho!”

The terrifying prospect of nuclear war was holding most Americans in a state of anxiety, including White. Kerouac responds in part:

If you should search around for causes for worry, for your son, too, there’d be no end to your worry, just as my father finally found out that if you search around for injustices you’ll just drive yourself raging to the grave. [...]

There’s no hope of justice for long or happiness on earth, for you or for me or your son, but there is hope and assurance and the blessedness surely to be believed, that all things go back to Heaven.

He advises: “Ed why don’t you go down to the library and take out Lankavatara Scripture. That will open your eyes.”

A dozen years had passed since their first meeting on the Columbia campus, and vast amounts of water had flowed under the bridge. “Well, old pal,” he writes, “God forbid I ever go on silly roads like that again, I’m too old and not interested in kid shenanigans any more. I never leave the house, work all the time, drink in solitude, receive no visitors and [am] on the way to solitary peace. My mother finally has her house. Soon I’ll have it paid, fallout on the roof and all.”

In a postscript Jack adds an interesting editorial note: “In On the Road, when you say on the phone ‘You?’ I really had ‘Yo?’ but stupid editors changed it.” “Yo” was in general use in the military during World War II, and was widely adopted after the war as a slang greeting among the younger population. It was far less common by the time On the Road was published, which probably explains the copyediting error.
Auction house category:Letters, documents and manuscripts
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
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23.11.2022 – 07.12.2022
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