Being There (novel)

Being There is a satirical novel by the Polish-born writer Jerzy Kosinski, published in 1970.[1] Set in America, the story concerns Chance, a simple gardener who unwittingly becomes a much sought-after political pundit and commentator on the vagaries of the modern world. It has been suggested that Kosinski named the character of Chance after Jerry Jarvis, the national leader of the transcendental meditation movement from 1965 to 1978,[2] whom Kosinski had met at the local TM Center in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and who resembled the calm and simple manner of Chance Gardiner.[3] The Cambridge TM Center was for many years located at the corner of Chauncy and Garden Streets.

Being There
First edition cover
AuthorJerzy Kosinski
LanguageEnglish
PublisherHarcourt Brace
Publication date
1970
Pages165
ISBN0-370-01453-7
Preceded bySteps 
Followed byThe Devil Tree 

A film based on the book was made in 1979; Kosinski co-wrote the film's screenplay with Robert C. Jones.

Background

When Kosinski published Being There, wrote historian Monika Adamczyk-Garbowska, "most Polish critics immediately recognized [his book] as a version of Kariera Nikodema Dyzmy (Nikodem Dyzma's Career) by Tadeusz Dolega-Mostowicz, a novel from the interwar period, and Kosinski was accused of plagiarism",[4] as he was with his first novel.

With his first novel, The Painted Bird, published in 1965, Kosinski was accused of plagiarizing a book published in the Second Polish Republic by the Polish ethnographer Henryk Biegeleisen.[4]

References
  1. eNotes.com, copy-paste excerpts from: 1971 and 1973 periodicals including Times Supplement (1971), Chicago Review (1973), Harper's (1973), Critique (1973), Hudson Review (1973), and Books and Bookmen (1973). Retrieved December 16, 2012.
  2. "Jerry's Slideshow of Maharishi and Guru Dev".
  3. "Jerry Jarvis on Jan 12 2009". YouTube.
  4. Adamczyk-Grabowska, Monika (2001). "The Role of Polish Language and Literature". In Wolitz, Seth L. (ed.). The Hidden Isaac Bashevis Singer. University of Texas Press. p. 137. ISBN 029279147X.


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