Ruth Ozeki, the acclaimed US author, filmmaker, and Zen Buddhist priest, has offered a rare glimpse into the literary influences that have shaped her distinguished career. In a recent interview, Ozeki revealed that her earliest and most enduring inspiration stems from E.B. White's classic children's novel, 'Charlotte's Web', stating that all her subsequent works are, in essence, an endeavour to recapture its essence.
Ozeki recounted her childhood memory of the book, initially recalling it as a story about Fern saving her pig, Wilbur. However, she later realised its true core: a narrative about Charlotte, the spider, who employs language to weave words into her web, ultimately saving Wilbur from slaughter. This profound understanding led Ozeki to conclude that the book is a powerful testament to the life-saving potential of language, a theme she has consciously sought to echo throughout her own writing.
Her formative years were marked by a voracious appetite for books, particularly those featuring intelligent young girls who were writers, or those with strong, independent spirits. She cited characters like Harriet from 'Harriet the Spy', Jo from 'Little Women', and Emily of 'Emily of New Moon' as early inspirations. Ozeki also highlighted the impact of 'The Catcher in the Rye' during her teenage years, crediting it with teaching her a critical disaffected attitude and how to discern insincerity.
Later in life, a month-long trek in the Himalayas at the age of 20 saw her discover Gabriel García Márquez's 'One Hundred Years of Solitude'. Reading the novel amidst the remote landscapes of Nepal, Ozeki described a profound shift in her perception, realising that 'magic was real' even before she encountered the term 'magic realism'. This experience underscored the transformative power of literature to alter one's understanding of the world.
Ozeki also reflected on the nuances of humour, attributing her understanding of the distinction between irony and cynicism, and the concept of 'earnest irreverence', to Kurt Vonnegut. While she cherishes the memory of his novels, she expressed a reluctance to revisit them, preferring to preserve the tone and lessons learned from his work in her mind rather than risk altering that perception through adult re-reading. Her reading habits also include a return to poets like Emily Dickinson and Elizabeth Bishop, whose works, particularly Bishop's 'One Art', she revisits in times of personal loss.