Re: Salinger-related article in Sept/Oct 2002 BOOK magazine

--- Will Hochman <hochmanw1@southernct.edu> wrote:
> In some ways, the paradox of Holden wanting to
> contact favorite
> authors with Salinger's resistance to the very idea
> he artfully wrote
> about may be part of the fuel that keeps the
> Salinger's myth alive in
> our culture. Not only do literary references to
> Salinger pop up on
> NPR or the NYTimes like clockwork, but we are also
> witnessing how the
> media sucks up gossip from Salingerland.

i think salinger is paying the price for the intimacy
of the voice he creates on the page. how many readers
feel 'this was written just for me'. i know i felt
that way. though, fortunately, over time one grows out
of it.

without the refusal to publish and the refusal to be
seen or heard, i can't imagine salinger playing the
prominent role he does in today's landscape. his
absence is the counterbalance to our self-advertising
presence. (though alexander in his bio feels it's all
premeditated to generate sales.) imagine if salinger
*had* continued to publish. even if the books were as
good as roth's, say, after 'portnoy', even if salinger
won the nobel, it wouldn't equal the greta garbo-role
of post world war two american fiction. roth and
bellow are just that: two well-repected aging men of
fiction. salinger's role is one that allows us to
speculate and project and weave our own little
scenarios. what's in the vault? will it see the
light? if so, will it be farce or revelation. what's
the real reason of his withdrawal to cornish? will
the heir's sell 'the catcher' to hollywood? etc. etc.
 the last 37 years of silence have drowned out the
first 25 years of words.

or almost.

kim

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Received on Thu Aug 22 17:03:07 2002