The Varieties of Jewish Experience

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Allen Ginsberg, while in the New York State Psychiatric Institute, met Carl Solomon. Their first exchange: Solomon: "Who are you?" Ginsberg: "I'm Myshkin." Solomon: "I'm Kirilov." From that moment their friendship started. Myshkin is the idiot in Dostoyevsky's 'The Idiot" (he ends his life in a Swiss asylum) while Kirilov is one of the possessed characters in Dostoyevsky's 'The Possessed". Sometimes diverse cultures meet. The heroic samurai Benkei, according to Japanese legend, killed a giant carp which had swallowed his mother when she fell into a waterfall. It is not recorded if Benkei lost his taste for gefilte fish or sushi. The Japanese legendary monster, the Nu, was slain by a samurai no less brave than Benkei. Benkei, disappointedly, is apparently not Japanese affectionate for Benjamin. A Yiddish version would have substituted "mother-in-law" for "mother" and worked in the Yiddish for "Adam was fortunate - he didn't have a mother-in-law."The ultimate "Nu?": Gertrude Stein, dying, asked "What is the question?