Debunking Carlos Castaneda’s Great American Con

‘American Trickster: The Hidden Lives of Carlos Castaneda‘By Ru Marshall OR Books, 682 pagesCarlos Castaneda shot to fame with the publication of his first book, “The Teachings of Don Juan,” an account of his encounters with a Yaqui shaman. That book thrilled not only a popular audience but anthropologists at UCLA and other higher education institutions who believed his work to be a breakthrough, the first time an academic had been included in the secret and ancient knowledge of a world barred to Westerners.A gifted stylist, a fascinating storyteller, Castaneda seduced his colleagues by his apparently humble approach, submitting himself entirely to Don Juan who tutored and sometimes chastised his acolyte in a dialogue not so different, in a way, from Boswell’s account of his apprenticeship with Samuel Johnson. Like Boswell, Castaneda did not mind the reprimands, which only seemed to bolster his authority as he gradually learned sacred truths alongside his readers.So compelling were Castaneda’s revelations that he had the imprimatur of the University of California Press, earning as well a Ph.D from UCLA while producing several more books, which, in Ru Marshall’s telling, became darker and darker tales of what amounted to, in the end, a kind of devil worship.Reviews of Castaneda’s books for several years were almost uniformly positive, yet the quality of his work, in Ru Marshall’s estimation, deteriorated, and questions began to be asked. Where were Castaneda’s field notes? Who had ever seen Don Juan other than Castaneda?‘The Teachings of Don Juan: A Yaqui Way of Knowledge,’ by Carlos Castaneda. University of California PressA cult began to form around the author, with disciples having to surrender themselves entirely to him, requiring them to change their names, renounce their families and practice various rites, including witchery and sexual practices as dictated by their leader.One of Castaneda’s earliest critics was the novelist Joyce Carol Oates. She professed no expertise in Castaneda’s field, but her superb literary analysis resulted in a suspicion that his stories were not true. Gradually others began to think they had been tricked, although many of Castaneda’s followers found it unbearable to doubt him — even subscribing to the group belief that their leader would not die exactly but just burn within.When Castaneda died in 1998 of liver cancer, some cult members realized they had been duped; others disappeared and may have committed suicide, a probability that forms a significant part of Ru Marshall’s fascinating concluding narrative.With a trickster like Castaneda, it is difficult for a biographer to sort out fact from fiction. Fortunately, Ru Marshall exposes his procedures and practices, his own doubts, his tracking of false leads, his wary handling of difficult concepts in anthropology which, he admits, got him into trouble with his original publisher, the University of California Press. Ironically, his publisher subjected the biography to a degree of scrutiny they failed to exercise in the publication of Castaneda’s books.Ru Marshall’s biography went through several rounds of peer reviews. Many, sometimes contradictory, objections were raised to his approach, making it virtually impossible to satisfy so many different points of view.Some readers may think Ru Marshall is engaging in special pleading, but I assure you having gone through a similar but not quite so arduous a peer review process, he is not exaggerating. Peer review these days is a minefield. Call it what you will — political correctness, the inability to see beyond the narrow constraints of an academic discipline — the result is an effort to bridle authors, to take apart a book that certain academic presses seem powerless to take back from the so-called authorities they rely on. Fortunately, Ru Marshall has found a publisher that trusts the author’s voice, one of great authority precisely because he acknowledges other points of view even as he argues strenuously but sensitively for his own. Even better, because Castaneda seemed to lie about everything — his age, his marriage, his birthplace, his employment, his sexual life, and so much more — the biographer candidly admits he has sorted it all out only up to a point. Consequently, his book becomes not merely the story of a man’s life and of his followers, but the story of biography itself, why it remains problematic and yet indispensable, and how no matter the biographer’s prowess the work is always a matter of on-the-job training.

Debunking Carlos Castaneda’s Great American Con

Debunking Carlos Castaneda’s Great American Con

More from the New York Sun

Dakota Fanning Shines in the Tepid ‘The Sun Never Sets’

Will the Supreme Court Side With the Taliban Over 9/11 Families?

More on the Bessent Economic Boom Story

How a ‘Not Responsible’ Verdict for Lindsay Clancy Could Set Back Every Working Mother in America

Europe’s Weak Economy Becomes a Security Threat

October 7 Casts a Large Shadow Over Israel’s October 27 Election

Samsung’s Apple-Shaped Foldable

Exorcising an Infamous Failure

More from the New York Sun

Dakota Fanning Shines in the Tepid ‘The Sun Never Sets’

Will the Supreme Court Side With the Taliban Over 9/11 Families?

More on the Bessent Economic Boom Story

How a ‘Not Responsible’ Verdict for Lindsay Clancy Could Set Back Every Working Mother in America

Europe’s Weak Economy Becomes a Security Threat

October 7 Casts a Large Shadow Over Israel’s October 27 Election

Samsung’s Apple-Shaped Foldable

Exorcising an Infamous Failure