Re : Skip the critics
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Sat, 11 Apr 1998 10:20:44 +0000
I'm going to have to go with Will on this one - I think it's abortive
to ignore anything about any subject that interests you - sometimes
the things that are pieces of uninformed rubbish teach you almost as
much as the good ones. To me, the critics (or the Critics, as Brendan
seems to have cast them) are just like us - they're just interpreting
things, there isn't really any right or wrong answers.
I think I only started thinking of Salinger in a scholarly sense when
I borrowed `Salinger - A Critical and Personal Portrait'. It was also
this book that introduced me to the Glass family and made me want to
read Nine Stories. It also spurred me on to thinking about a lot of
the questions I still ask about Salinger and clarified a lot of
things - for example the whole Zen influence. I don't ever like to
limit myself by saying `no' straight out to something - I guess the
idea is to just be selective about what you read. You don't even have
to take it all on board, you'll just be much richer having sifted
through it all - a bit like this list really (:
As for criticism per se, I actually really like people telling me
what's wrong with my work about 90% of the time, because ultimately
you want to make it better. Nothing's worse than working in a vacuum,
not really knowing anymore what's good or bad. But the other 10%
hurts you like hell, but it's like anything - you have to learn from
it and live with it.
Camille
P.S. Like I wrote in an earlier mail (and you must tell me if you
have no idea what I'm talking about because I'm not sure all my
messages got through) - I think by the very nature of this list,
people shouldn't be getting worried about `personal' jibes. Let's all
just leave our egos in our real lives and get down to the business of
good old literary discussion and debate, *please!*
Camille Scaysbrook
verona_beach@geocities.com
THE ARTS HOLE
@ www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442