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Soaring, Drifting, and Flying High with Jonathan Livingston Seagull

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Soaring, Drifting, and Flying High with Jonathan Livingston Seagull

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    1. Soaring, Drifting, and Flying High with Jonathan Livingston Seagull By Jane Optie and Joe Peeples

    5. Creation of Jonathan Livingston Seagull: The Idea The words “Jonathan Livingston Seagull” simply popped into Bach’s head Went home & wrote down what is now Part 1 Suddenly the “film stopped like fireworks gone cold in the sky”

    7. Brief Publication History 1st printing: 7,500 copies 8th printing: 15,000 copies 9th printing: 50,000 copies (almost all sold by 1/18/72) 18th printing: 200,000 copies As of April 10, 1973: 2,131,000 in print (27 printings) Published: August 31, 1970 Debuted on NYT Bestsellers List: April 30, 1972 #1 for 38 weeks

    8. More notes on publication history Paperback rights sold to Avon Books for $1.11 Million on August 22, 1972 Based on advanced guarantee of 3 million sold At that time, 103 weeks after publication, more than 30,000 sold per week

    9. Reception & Reviews-at release No advertising budget Classification: Religion? Fiction? Children’s? Nature? First read by previous Bach fans Popularity slowly grew Word of mouth Given as gifts First printing (7,500) sold by Christmas

    12. Another Critique From the New York Times (June 3, 1972) “In his best seller, ‘Jonathan Livingston Seagull,’ Richard Bach managed to make graceful birds flit, fret and have meaningful dialogue like angst-ridden humans seeking their identities on a weekend at the seashore. But close check of the birds by a reader, Judy Favor, showed that all the truth-seeking gulls had masculine names. The seagull checkoff resulted in a new bird on page 83 of the book’s 12th printing.* She is Judy Lee.”

    15. Bach on Jonathan Livingston Seagull

    16. Religion in Jonathan Livingston Seagull Hinduism & Eastern Religion Body simply a place in which the soul lives Perfection = soul no longer needs body Reincarnation The Church of Christ, Scientist Bach’s religion when he wrote JLS “Heaven and hell are not…specific destinations” and can be reached “here and now” Man is timeless

    17. Religion in Jonathan Livingston Seagull Christianity Jonathan is a teacher He is “son of the Great Gull Himself” Watered down Christian undertones; no crucifixion, etc.

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