Lippard@BCO-MULTICS.ARPA (James J. Lippard) (07/12/88)
Sender: James J. Lippard <Lippard@HIS-PHOENIX-MULTICS.ARPA>
Date: Wed, 22 Jun 88 21:37 EDT
From: James J. Lippard <Lippard@BCO-MULTICS.ARPA>
Subject: Carlos Castaneda
Reply-To: Lippard@BCO-MULTICS.ARPA
To: AIList@AI.AI.MIT.EDU
In a couple of recent issues of AI-List (vol. 7 nos. 28 and 42), Andy
Ylikoski has recommended the works of Carlos Castaneda, stating that they
"approach the concept of will from Yaqui Indian knowledge point of view" and
that "The Yaqui have their own scientific tradition anthropologically studied
by Castaneda."
I would like to advise caution in reading these works, and recommend a few
books which are highly skeptical of Castaneda. These works present evidence
that Castaneda's "Don Juan" writings are neither autobiographical nor valid
ethnography. E.N. Anderson, then associate professor of anthropology at UCLA
(where Castaneda received his doctorate), wrote (in The Zetetic, Fall/Winter
1977, p. 122) that "de Mille exposed many inconsistencies that prove *either*
that Castaneda was a brilliant fraud *or* that he was an incredibly careless
and sloppy ethnographer in a disorganized department." (He believes the
latter.)
de Mille, Richard. _Castaneda's Journey: The Power and the Allegory_,
Capra Press, 1976.
---, editor. _The Don Juan Papers: Further Castaneda Controversies_,
Ross Erikson, 1980.
Noel, Daniel, editor. _Seeing Castaneda: Reactions to the "Don Juan"
Writings of Carlos Castaneda_, G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1976.
The Noel book contains some conjectures regarding Castaneda's works being
bogus, but the de Mille books give the hard evidence (e.g., internal
inconsistencies and contradictions, comparisons with other studies of Yaqui
culture, interviews with people familiar with the author and subject matter,
examination of Castaneda's background and influences, etc.)
Jim Lippard
Lippard at BCO-MULTICS.ARPAhartung@NPRDC.ARPA (Jeff Hartung) (07/18/88)
To: comp-ai-digest@ucsd.edu Path: nprdc!hartung From: Jeff Hartung <hartung@nprdc.arpa> Newsgroups: comp.ai.digest Subject: Re: Carlos Castaneda Date: Tue, 12 Jul 88 15:08 EDT References: <19880712045507.0.NICK@HOWARD-JOHNSONS.LCS.MIT.EDU> Sender: news@nprdc.arpa Reply-To: Jeff Hartung <hartung@nprdc.arpa> Organization: Navy Personnel R&D Center, San Diego Lines: 26 In a previous article, James J. Lippard writes: > I would like to advise caution in reading these works, and recommend a few >books which are highly skeptical of Castaneda. These works present evidence >that Castaneda's "Don Juan" writings are neither autobiographical nor valid >ethnography. E.N. Anderson, then associate professor of anthropology at UCLA >(where Castaneda received his doctorate), wrote (in The Zetetic, Fall/Winter >1977, p. 122) that "de Mille exposed many inconsistencies that prove *either* >that Castaneda was a brilliant fraud *or* that he was an incredibly careless >and sloppy ethnographer in a disorganized department." (He believes the >latter.) >... I noticed that the most recent Casteneda book in the series, "The Fire From Within," was published as a work of fiction, unlike the previous six books. I took this to be a confession that the works were largely fictitous even prior to it. Furthermore, the later books state that what Casteneda believed to be a Yaqui philosophy initially was in fact a view belonging to a small cult of "sorcerers" and not to the Yaqui in general, even if you *do* believe the assertion that the first six books make of being non-fiction. --Jeff Hartung-- ARPA - hartung@nprdc.arpa hartung@sdics.ucsd.edu UUCP - !ucsd!nprdc!hartung !ucsd!sdics!hartung
mendozag@pur-ee.UUCP (Grado) (07/24/88)
To: comp-ai-digest@uunet.UU.NET Path: pur-ee!mendozag From: Grado <pur-ee!mendozag@uunet.UU.NET> Newsgroups: comp.ai.digest Subject: Re: Carlos Castaneda Date: Mon, 18 Jul 88 19:07 EDT References: <19880718041814.6.NICK@HOWARD-JOHNSONS.LCS.MIT.EDU> Reply-To: Victor M Grado <pur-ee!mendozag@uunet.UU.NET> Organization: Purdue University Engineering Computer Network Lines: 34 >In a previous article, James J. Lippard writes: >> <caution words (and references) in reading Castan~eda's books> >>And then Jeff Hartung adds: >I noticed that the most recent Casteneda book in the series, "The Fire From >Within," was published as a work of fiction, unlike the previous six books. I >took this to be a confession that the works were largely fictitous even prior >to it. Furthermore, the later books state that what Casteneda believed to be >a Yaqui philosophy initially was in fact a view belonging to a small cult of >"sorcerers" and not to the Yaqui in general, even if you *do* believe the >assertion that the first six books make of being non-fiction. I think that the last book is "The Power of Silence" (which I have not read). Anyway, thanks to Mr. Lippard for posting the controversy references. Having grown up in the Valley Yaqui and heard many sorcery stories, I always took the Castan~eda's books with a grain of salt. It was not until I read a Stanford CS Memo by Avron Barr (1977, MetaCognition or some such), giving as reference "Tales of Power", that I tried to go back to those books. Although my views about these books were always the ones reflected in the last sentence Jeff wrote above, I found "The Teachings of Don Juan" to be very believable (I need to read the posted references). On the other hand, the fact that the last books are published as fiction (although in "The Fire From Within" Foreword Castaneda asserts that he "had no other choice but to render his teachings [Don Juan's] in the form of a narrative, a narrative of what happened, as it happened.") does not imply a confession that the previous books were fiction (although it could be fraud). Castaneda is a prolific writer but he might be using a Sly Stallone tactic to keep his income secure. Maybe next time I go back to the Yaqui Valley I go look for a sorcerer teacher :-). At least I will finish reading those books and the references. Victor M. Grado