An edition of Halfway Through the Door (1979)

Halfway Through the Door

An Actors Journey Towards the Self

1st Harper & Row pbk. ed.

My Reading Lists:

Create a new list

Check-In

×Close
Add an optional check-in date. Check-in dates are used to track yearly reading goals.
Today


Buy this book

Last edited by MARC Bot
December 13, 2023 | History
An edition of Halfway Through the Door (1979)

Halfway Through the Door

An Actors Journey Towards the Self

1st Harper & Row pbk. ed.

In this dreary pamphlet, actor Arkin recounts (without a trace of humor) his gradual conversion to yoga/meditation--and urges the rest of us to come along to the ashram. Some years back, after six years of psychoanalysis, he found himself with a thriving marriage and a great career; but he wasn't happy, needing drugs or performing to supply his highs. Then he met John, an unsuccessful actor who nonetheless had total serenity--a guru, in fact, who soon persuaded Arkin to start meditating. At first a bit skeptical, Arkin got only minor benefits (his leaky sinuses drained), but then he began finding transcendence: his brain speeded up, he had a ""vision of harmony"" that felt as if ""I was plugged in directly to the Milky Way"" (""I fell in love with myself""), he started vibrating, and then the Big Stuff--astral travel (""The back of my head came right through the front of my skull and I was left sitting in front of myself""), visions of earlier incarnations (a French Revolution casualty, a Samurai), and ""a burning in my heart"" that meant his heart had opened. No doubt about Arkin's sincerity here, and he tries his best to be down-to-earth. But most readers will find his guru-worship hard to stomach (""Guru, in his brilliance, knew, as he always knows. . .""), and the few references to his wife (who eventually joined in) and family are off-puttingly remote and condescending. Unengaging, then, unlikely to win converts--and not for fans of Arkin's comedy.

Publish Date
Publisher
Harper & Row
Language
English
Pages
104

Buy this book

Previews available in: English

Edition Availability
Cover of: Halfway Through the Door
Halfway Through the Door: An Actors Journey Towards the Self
1984, Harper & Row
in English - 1st Harper & Row pbk. ed.
Cover of: Halfway Through the Door
Halfway Through the Door: An Actors Journey Toward the Self
1979, Harper & Row
in English - 1st ed.

Add another edition?

Book Details


Edition Notes

Published in
San Francisco

Classifications

Dewey Decimal Class
181/.45
Library of Congress
B132.Y6 A683 1984

The Physical Object

Pagination
104 p. ;
Number of pages
104

ID Numbers

Open Library
OL3187236M
Internet Archive
halfwaythroughdo00arki
ISBN 10
006250035X
LCCN
83048415
Library Thing
1286850
Goodreads
1219438

Community Reviews (0)

Feedback?
No community reviews have been submitted for this work.

Lists

This work does not appear on any lists.

History

Download catalog record: RDF / JSON
December 13, 2023 Edited by MARC Bot import existing book
March 1, 2022 Edited by ImportBot import existing book
February 27, 2018 Edited by mountainaxe1 Edited without comment.
February 27, 2018 Edited by mountainaxe1 Edited without comment.
December 9, 2009 Created by WorkBot add works page