Jonathan Livingston Seagull

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For the feature-length film of the same story, see Jonathan Livingston Seagull (film).
For the Neil Diamond album featuring songs from the film, see Jonathan Livingston Seagull (album).
Jonathan Livingston Seagull  

Book cover for Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Author Richard Bach
Illustrator Russel Munson
Language English
Subject(s) life of Jonathan Livingston Seagull
Genre(s) Spiritual
Self-Help
Novella
Publisher Avon Books
Publication date 1970
Media type print (paperback)
Pages 127 (paperback edition)
ISBN ISBN 0-380-01286-3 (paperback edition)

Jonathan Livingston Seagull, written by Richard Bach, is a fable in novella form about a seagull learning about life and flight, and a homily about self-perfection. First published in 1970 as "Jonathan Livingston Seagull — a story", it became a favorite throughout the United States. By the end of 1972, over a million copies were in print, Reader's Digest had published a condensed version, and the book reached the top of the New York Times Best Seller list where it remained for 38 weeks. In 1972 and 1973 the book topped the Publishers Weekly list of bestselling novels in the United States. It is still in print as of 2008.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

The book tells the story of Jonathan Livingston Seagull, a seagull who is bored with the daily squabbles over food. Seized by a passion for flight, he pushes himself, learning everything he can about flying, until finally his unwillingness to conform results in his expulsion from his flock. An outcast, he continues to learn, becoming increasingly pleased with his abilities as he leads an idyllic life.

One day, Jonathan is met by two gulls who take him to a "higher plane of existence" (reminiscent of the beliefs of Chinese, in that there is no heaven but a better world found through perfection of knowledge), where he meets other gulls who love to fly. He discovers that his sheer tenacity and desire to learn make him "pretty well a one-in-a-million bird." Jonathan befriends the wisest gull in this new place, named Chiang, who takes him beyond his previous learning, teaching him how to move instantaneously to anywhere else in the Universe. The secret, Chiang says, is to "begin by knowing that you have already arrived...."

Not satisfied with his new life, Jonathan returns to Earth to find others like him, to bring them his learning and to spread his love for flight. His mission is successful, gathering around him others who have been outlawed for not conforming. Ultimately, the very first of his students, Fletcher Lynd Seagull, becomes a teacher in his own right and Jonathan leaves to continue his learning.

[edit] Part One

Part one of the book finds young Jonathan Livingston frustrated with the meaningless materialism and conformity and limitation of the seagull life. He is seized with a passion for flight of all kinds, and his soul soars as he experiments with exhilarating challenges of daring and triumphant aerial feats. Eventually, his lack of conformity to the limited seagull life leads him into conflict with his flock, and they turn their backs on him, casting him out of their society and exiling him. Not deterred by this, Jonathan continues his efforts to reach higher and higher flight goals, finding he is often successful but eventually he can fly no higher. He is then met by two radiant, loving seagulls who explain to him that he has learned much, and that they are there now to teach him more. He follows them.

An illustration for the main theme of Jonathan Livingston Seagull.

[edit] Part Two

In the second Part, Jonathan transcends into another society where all the gulls enjoy flying. He is only capable of this after practicing hard alone for a long time (described in the first part). In this other society, real respect emerges as a contrast of the coercive force that was keeping the former "Breakfast Flock" together. The learning process, linking the highly experienced teacher and the diligent student, is raised into almost sacred level, suggesting that this may be the true relation between human and God. Because of this, Bach has been described as believing that human and God, regardless of the all immense difference, are sharing something of great importance that can bind them together: "You've got to understand that a seagull is an unlimited idea of freedom, an image of the Great Gull." He realizes that you have to be true to yourself.

[edit] Part Three

The introduction to the third part of the book is the last words of Jonathan's teacher: "Keep working on love." In this part Jonathan understands that the spirit cannot be really free without the ability to forgive, and that the way to progress leads--for him, at least--through becoming a teacher, not just through working hard as a student. Jonathan returns to the Breakfast Flock to share his newly discovered ideals and the recent tremendous experience, ready for the difficult fight against the current rules of that society. The ability to forgive seems to be a mandatory "passing condition."

"Do you want to fly so much that you will forgive the Flock, and learn, and go back to them one day and work to help them know?" Jonathan asks his first student, Fletcher Lynd Seagull, before getting into any further talks. The idea that the stronger can reach more by leaving the weaker friends behind seems totally rejected.

Hence, love, deserved respect, and forgiveness all seem to be equally important to the freedom from the pressure to obey the rules just because they are commonly accepted.

[edit] Critical response

Several early commentators, emphasizing the first Part of the book, see it as part of the US self-help and positive thinking culture, epitomised by Norman Vincent Peale and by the New Thought movement. Some have described it as having Christian-anarchist characteristics. It has also been compared to the children's tale The Little Engine That Could.

But the book is listed as one of 50 'spiritual classics' in a book by Tom Butler-Bowdon[1], who noted: "It is easy now, 35 years on, to overlook the originality of the book's concept, and though some find it rather naïve, in fact it expresses timeless ideas about human potential"


This books exemplifies the four commonalities of a stoic and/or ascetic spiritual path- the themes repeat and are in sequence: The outcast-the journey- the mentor-and the return to teach others- Some examples of this are Tom Brown junior(The Tracker- The Quest- The Vision- Grandfather) and Dan Millman-(Way of the Peaceful Warrior)and even star wars- Luke Skywalkers journey with Yoda. Skywalker being outcast finds Yoda who teaches him. This circular journey stems from the story of Parzival, the ignorant young boy who becomes a knight, is outcast, finds a mentor, and redeems himself to become the Grail King. In all cases the themes parallel. Jonathan Livingston Seagull exemplifies these four basic themes in the book through redemption and justification of his passion.

[edit] Adaptations and appearances in other media

[edit] Adaptations in film, dance, music, etc.

  • Film: the novella inspired the production of a motion picture of the same title, with a soundtrack by Neil Diamond. The film was made by Hall Bartlett many years before computer-generated effects were available. In order to make seagulls act on cue and perform aerobatics, Mark Smith of Escondido, California built radio-controlled gliders that looked remarkably like real seagulls from a few feet away. Bach was so unimpressed with the treatment of the film that he sued the film company for negligence. Critics blasted the film, calling it "for the birds." Previously only available on VHS, it was released on DVD in October 2007.
  • Ballet: A ballet based on Jonathan Livingston Seagull, was choreographed by Ananda Shankar Jayant.[2]
  • Audiobook: The Irish actor Richard Harris won a Grammy in 1973 for the audiobook LP Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
  • Parody novels:
  • Parody cartoon:
    • One of cartoons from Masyanya series (part 14, cartoon 6) is called Jonathan Khryundelson Sparrow («Воробей по имени Джонатан Хрюндельсон»)[3] and shows a sparrow who wanted to learn to swim; finally, he manages to teach swimming his whole flock - but himself.
  • Music:
  • Other:
    • Shui On Group, a large property group based in Hong Kong, uses Jonathan the Seagull as their company motto and logo because the Group's Founder Vincent Lo was inspired by the story.[4]

[edit] Appearances in popular culture

 This article contains too many minor or trivial fictional references. Mere trivia, or references unimportant to the overall plot of a work of fiction, should be deleted. See also what Wikipedia is not.
Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (May 2008)
  • Also featured in the 1995 film The Brady Bunch Movie as Mike Brady's bedtime reading.
  • In an episode of Moonlighting when David Addison first meets Maddie Hayes, he guesses her favorite movie is Jonathan Livingston Seagull.
  • In the 2004 novel Adrian Mole and the Weapons of Mass Destruction, Adrian's father claims that once you read the book, no other book can ever compare. His father has yet to read a book since and gets emotional talking about the seagull.
  • In The Simpsons, Captain McCallister is heard uttering the name, as an exclamation, in the episode El Viaje Misterioso de Nuestro Jomer (The Mysterious Voyage of Homer).
  • In an episode of That '70s Show, while Bob and Midge are dining with Red and Kitty, a drunken Midge overacts a scene from the novella.
  • In an episode of Ask A Ninja, A Ninja refers to the book while telling the tale of why three is the magic number.
  • In an episode of George Shrinks, George pursues a seagull in mid-flight; to get his attention he calls out to the seagull, "Hey there, Johnny Livingston!"
  • A parody of Johnathan Livingston Seagull, called J.L. Budgerigar, was included on the album The Newcastle Song by Bob Hudson. It is set in Australia where Johnathan Livingston Budgerigar is a bird that '..Muses in his philisophical peregrinations..' on a new '..way to crack open Millet seed without removing the husk..'.

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Butler-Bowdon, T., 2003, 50 Spiritual Classics: Timeless Wisdom From 50 Great Books of Inner Discovery, Enlightenment and Purpose, Nicholas Brealey: London.
  2. ^ http://www.indiansarts.com/anandapge.htm
  3. ^ Мультсериал «Масяня», серия «Воробей по имени Джонатан Хрюндельсон»
  4. ^ http://www.shuion.com/eng/Group/Background/jl.asp

[edit] References

[edit] External links

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