Daisaku Ikeda, Transnationalism, and American Literature: Dialogues of the Heart
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ISBN: 9781041093459
Daisaku Ikeda, Transnationalism, and American Literature: Dialogues of the Heart examines the writings of Nichiren Buddhist philosopher, poet, and peacebuilder Daisaku Ikeda (1928–2023), focusing on how American literature and transnationalism are integral to the development of his Buddhist philosophy as well as his global endeavors in peacebuilding, inter-faith dialogue, and humanistic education.
Each chapter explores his engagement with a diverse array of literary texts, from Emerson, Whitman, and other authors of the American Renaissance to the philosophical pragmatism of John Dewey and Martin Luther King Jr., African American literature by Ralph Ellison and Langston Hughes, and a global culture of letters by Muriel Rukeyser, Ben Okri, and others. Throughout, contributors demonstrate the transformative power of literature and philosophy, not least their capacities to inspire dialogue, both internally within each reader but also among individuals of varied backgrounds. Other topics addressed include how poetry enables a pragmatist call to social action and how Buddhism inspired avant-gardism in American literature in general and Black literature in particular in the United States, as well as in Africa.
This edited volume utilizes a range of methodologies to study Ikeda, including a historicist analysis of Ikeda’s evolving engagement with American literature, the application of literary theory and philosophy to Ikeda’s work, and comparative analyses of Ikeda’s views with other thinkers, as well as analyses of Ikeda’s poetry alongside that of other poets.
Anita Patterson is Professor of English at Boston University, USA. She is the author of From Emerson to King: Democracy, Race, and the Politics of Protest and Race, American Literature and Transnational Modernisms. She has also contributed a chapter to Hope and Joy in Education: Engaging Daisaku Ikeda Across Curriculum and Context.
Daisaku Ikeda’s Dialogues of the Heart: An Introduction
Anita Patterson
- “In the Palace of My Heart”: The Presence of the American Renaissance in Daisaku Ikeda’s Lyric, Pragmatic Poetry of Peace
Ronald A. Bosco - A New Errand Bearer: Daisaku Ikeda’s Poetic Response to Walt Whitman and His Quest for Peace
Kenneth M. Price - The Poem as Dependent Origination: Daisaku Ikeda, Walt Whitman, and Reader Response
Jim Garrison - “The World Globes Itself in a Drop of Dew”: Emerson’s and Ikeda’s Short Poems
Sarah Wider - Understanding Daisaku Ikeda’s New Renaissance: An Apprenticeship in Transnational Reading
Giulia Pellizzato - The Dance of the Buddha and a Poetics of Peace in Daisaku Ikeda and Muriel Rukeyser
J. Ashley Foster - Daisaku Ikeda’s Literary Selfhood in the Justice of Becoming: Toward the Second American Renaissance and the Dawn of a New Global Age
Jason Goulah - The New Human Revolution: Daisaku Ikeda’s Engagement with African and African American Poetry
Masumi H. Odari - The Dialectics of Nonviolence: Daisaku Ikeda, Buddhist Empathy, and African American Liberation Thought
Ikea Johnson
Description
Daisaku Ikeda, Transnationalism, and American Literature: Dialogues of the Heart examines the writings of Nichiren Buddhist philosopher, poet, and peacebuilder Daisaku Ikeda (1928–2023), focusing on how American literature and transnationalism are integral to the development of his Buddhist philosophy as well as his global endeavors in peacebuilding, inter-faith dialogue, and humanistic education.
Each chapter explores his engagement with a diverse array of literary texts, from Emerson, Whitman, and other authors of the American Renaissance to the philosophical pragmatism of John Dewey and Martin Luther King Jr., African American literature by Ralph Ellison and Langston Hughes, and a global culture of letters by Muriel Rukeyser, Ben Okri, and others. Throughout, contributors demonstrate the transformative power of literature and philosophy, not least their capacities to inspire dialogue, both internally within each reader but also among individuals of varied backgrounds. Other topics addressed include how poetry enables a pragmatist call to social action and how Buddhism inspired avant-gardism in American literature in general and Black literature in particular in the United States, as well as in Africa.
This edited volume utilizes a range of methodologies to study Ikeda, including a historicist analysis of Ikeda’s evolving engagement with American literature, the application of literary theory and philosophy to Ikeda’s work, and comparative analyses of Ikeda’s views with other thinkers, as well as analyses of Ikeda’s poetry alongside that of other poets.
Author(s)
Anita Patterson is Professor of English at Boston University, USA. She is the author of From Emerson to King: Democracy, Race, and the Politics of Protest and Race, American Literature and Transnational Modernisms. She has also contributed a chapter to Hope and Joy in Education: Engaging Daisaku Ikeda Across Curriculum and Context.
Table of Contents
Daisaku Ikeda’s Dialogues of the Heart: An Introduction
Anita Patterson
- “In the Palace of My Heart”: The Presence of the American Renaissance in Daisaku Ikeda’s Lyric, Pragmatic Poetry of Peace
Ronald A. Bosco - A New Errand Bearer: Daisaku Ikeda’s Poetic Response to Walt Whitman and His Quest for Peace
Kenneth M. Price - The Poem as Dependent Origination: Daisaku Ikeda, Walt Whitman, and Reader Response
Jim Garrison - “The World Globes Itself in a Drop of Dew”: Emerson’s and Ikeda’s Short Poems
Sarah Wider - Understanding Daisaku Ikeda’s New Renaissance: An Apprenticeship in Transnational Reading
Giulia Pellizzato - The Dance of the Buddha and a Poetics of Peace in Daisaku Ikeda and Muriel Rukeyser
J. Ashley Foster - Daisaku Ikeda’s Literary Selfhood in the Justice of Becoming: Toward the Second American Renaissance and the Dawn of a New Global Age
Jason Goulah - The New Human Revolution: Daisaku Ikeda’s Engagement with African and African American Poetry
Masumi H. Odari - The Dialectics of Nonviolence: Daisaku Ikeda, Buddhist Empathy, and African American Liberation Thought
Ikea Johnson