2009/01/20 New York
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One hand

Squalor

To celebrate Martin Luther King Day Sander and I went to B.B. King to listen to The Harlem Gospel Choir.
While indulging in the music I thought of the epigraph Salinger used for “Nine Stories”: “We know the sound of two hands clapping. But what is the sound of one hand clapping?” I often long for the sound of one hand clapping, especially while listening to gospel.
Today seems to me an appropriate day to concentrate on the sound of one hand clapping and also to read “For Esmé – with Love and Squalor”.


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22 comments Last_comment
Salinger wasn't the first to use that quote. It's a famous zen thought.
said Mieke Dutoit 20/01/2009 15:46 • x
An epigraph isn't supposed to be original. I don't claim to know what it is supposed to be, but not original at any rate.
said Sandy G 20/01/2009 15:51 • x
Mieke
If you open "Nine Stories" you will find below the epigraph the words: "A Zen Koan".
said Arnon Grunberg 20/01/2009 15:59 • x
Bob Dylan used it as well in his song "We better talk to this over":

But I don't think it's liable to happen
Like the sound of one hand clappin'

Have always liked it.
said . . 20/01/2009 16:27 • x
. .
Sometimes the air is filled with the sound of one hand clapping. Never doubt that.
said Mieke Dutoit 20/01/2009 16:38 • x
One hand clapping is the sound of the whip.
said Oscar Wilde 20/01/2009 18:50 • x
Oscar
I will tell this to my girlfriend.
said Arnon Grunberg 20/01/2009 20:01 • x
Arnon
Please send her my regards as well.
said Oscar Wilde 20/01/2009 20:27 • x
This entry tastes like the St.Emilion I am drinking for the moment;full of taste, rich in meaning with an aftertaste that asks for more. Suits the day.
said Mieke Dutoit 20/01/2009 21:20 • x
Hi Arnon
you can find the meaning of define in the Webster, which of course also gives the meaning of messiah. I was curious to know if the meaning as in your book (comforter) in your opinion also applied to Madoff.
The zen-koan was solved to mean either "the same" or "different"in equal measure.
said Joanne Hartmann 20/01/2009 21:44 • x
Love & Squalor is a beautiful story!
Just wanted to shout that.
said Em ma 20/01/2009 21:49 • x
one hand and one hand is one hand. If you understand this you still didn't understand it.
said Coen van Dam 21/01/2009 03:06 • x

http://www.freeweb.hu/tchl/salinger/squalor.html
said Bernard f 21/01/2009 08:42 • x
Together we unite, Coen?
said Dens Powells 21/01/2009 12:17 • x
Good question Dens.
said Coen van Dam 21/01/2009 13:31 • x
Bernard
Thanks for the link, I enjoyed the story.
said Mieke Dutoit 21/01/2009 15:24 • x
Bernard
Will you be there , friday the thirteenth in Leuven next month?
said Mieke Dutoit 21/01/2009 15:45 • x
Joanne
A messiah can also be a punisher, bot for some punishment is comfort.
said Arnon Grunberg 21/01/2009 15:59 • x
Yet it claps
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/One_Hand_Clapping has 5 entries including a novel by Anthony Burges:
"The clasped hands of marriage have been reduced [by the novel's end] to a single hand. Yet it claps."
said Eloc Kofkus 21/01/2009 16:55 • x
@Mieke
I hardly leave home, especially ‘far away’ and late in the evening. (When will Arnon ever come to Bruges…)
said Bernard f 21/01/2009 19:52 • x
Bernard
What a shame, and there is such a good connection by train between Bruges and Leuven.
said Mieke Dutoit 22/01/2009 12:17 • x
@Mieke
You are right. So, maybe.
said Bernard f 22/01/2009 17:50 • x
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