KINDRED SPIRITS

Sellner’s dual biography chronicles the lives of two 20th-century icons.

This ambitious work aims to draw parallels between two post–World War II luminaries: the Trappist monk Thomas Merton and the Beat writer Jack Kerouac, two men who, as the author states, were “so different in personal choices and lifestyles” yet united by their shared interest in Buddhism. In alternating chapters, the lives of Merton and Kerouac are relayed chronologically. Sellner relies on primary source material—letters, diaries, interviews, recollected conversations—to tell their stories. This approach demonstrates the author’s scholarly rigor while giving readers an intimate view into their interior lives. Sellner highlights Merton’s and Kerouac’s moments of satori, a concept from the Zen Buddhist tradition that the author defines as the experience of “awakening, epiphany, enlightenment, seeing with new eyes.” Readers may initially be compelled by the premise of a kinship between the monk and the Beat; however, the threads meant to tie them together too easily come loose. Their similarities—a love of writing, Celtic ancestry, a shared alma mater, their Catholic faith, encounters with Zen master D.T. Suzuki, and issues with alcohol—make the case for the two being “kindred spirits.” On the other hand, it’s the profound differences between the two that pop off the pages and give the story texture. For example, Merton’s interest in Buddhism was decidedly within the Zen tradition, while Kerouac pejoratively called Zen “what’s left of [the Buddha’s] Buddhism” and preferred the Mahayana tradition, which he called the “original Buddhism.” Suzuki imparted to Merton the profound koan “love is more than enlightenment,” but the Zen master only met briefly with Kerouac, and was disappointed in the writer for drinking in anticipation of their meeting. (Kerouac later recalled this encounter “defensively, in racist terms,” per Sellner.) Merton was evidently lukewarm on the subject of Kerouac, and the two never met. In the end, their connection registers as simply an example of the commonality of all human beings.

An ambitious work of biography that fails to fully make its case.