optie seagull

Soaring, Drifting, and Flying High with Jonathan Livingston Seagull: 

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

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Richard Bach—A Brief Biography Born June 23, 1936, in Oak Park, IL Married twice (divorced in 1971 and 2000) U.S. Air Force Pilot 1956-59 and 1961-62 Rank of Captain Aviation enthusiast

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Unique Characteristics The mustache as a symbol of individuality Tells Smithsonian he’s “ageless” Direct descendant of Johann Sebastian Bach Has a biographical entry in Encyclopedia of Occultism and Parapsychology Named his seaplane “Jonathan”

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Contributor to flying magazines (Flying, Air Facts, and more) One —Bach and his wife, Leslie, travel through time and discover the impact of their previous choices The Bridge Across Forever: A Lovestory—book about “one man’s obsessive search for his soulmate” Messiah’s Handbook—Bach says of the book, “Open it anywhere, and on that page is what you most need to know.” Ferret Chronicles—children’s series Other Works

Creation of Jonathan Livingston Seagull:The Idea: 

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”

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Creation of Jonathan Livingston Seagull: Getting JLS Published Added 4 more pages to end the story Published in magazines Rejected by Harper & Row Eleanor Friede, editor at Macmillan, asked Bach if he had any manuscripts Bach suggested it to her as a kids’ book She urged he “retype the story…into a more cohesive single piece” Published August 31, 1970

Brief Publication History: 

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

More notes on publication history: 

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

Reception & Reviews-at release: 

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

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Publishers’ Weekly Book Review, August 3, 1970 Note: further down the page, under Children’s Books, there is a book called Kira the Gull, published by Addison-Wesley. The book is “another cool, blue and white book that takes you to the seashore and to the sight of seagulls dipping and diving in the summer sky, into the summer seas.”

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“Book Sales Soar for Fable of a Seagull” Calls JLS a “superficially guileless tale” Book is a disappointment January 18, 1972 (New York Times) Reception in 1972

Another Critique: 

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.” *Judy Lee appears on page 114 of our paperback edition.

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New York Times, March 19, 1972

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Time Cover Story: “It’s a Bird! It’s a Dream! It’s Supergull!” Some love it, some hate it JLS “occasionally sounds like a Boy Scout leader, a jet-fighter pilot and St. Paul, but…he is really just the gull next door.” Is Bach really Jonathan Livingston Seagull? Bach does not like JLS’s decision to return to the flock: “Self-sacrifice…is a word I cannot stand” November 13, 1972

Bach on Jonathan Livingston Seagull: 

Bach on Jonathan Livingston Seagull On why the book is good… “Jonathan is neither sex nor violence, and he is able to be appreciated in a world that most people say is sex and violence. That kind of changes my image of the country.” (New York Times, August 23, 1972) On why the book sells… People needed to hear what the book said It was perfect for that time period “Jonathan is a crystal sphere in which we can see glimpses of our past and our future”

Religion in Jonathan Livingston Seagull: 

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

Religion in Jonathan Livingston Seagull: 

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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Spirituality in Jonathan Livingston Seagull Broad appeal to people of all religions, spiritual beliefs Does not clearly state a higher purpose: Self-enlightenment? Teaching? Symbolism, but vague symbolism