Re: Back to School

heh...I'd forgotten about that episode :). So he expressed ambivalence about
psychoanalysis too :).

Maybe he just doesn't like being nailed down.

On some levels I think the same way he does about psychoanalysis. I think Freud
wrote fairy tales and called them science and that annoys me to no end (I'm
reading _Beyond the Pleasure Principle_ right now), but at the same time, they
were very compelling and influential fairy tales that have defined the way we
think about a great many things...and sometimes I find his observations or
categories useful.

Jim

Aaron Sommers wrote:

> Jim,
> Your right, it seems Salinger likely hated psychoanalysis as much, if not
> more, than literary critics. Yet there's even more ambivalence when you read
> in The Catcher in the Rye the part where Holden calls on Carl Luce the
> "smartest boy " he knew, and listens to him give a quick lesson on analysis.
> Something about "patterns of our minds" and Holden considers therapy, if I
> am not mistaken. Imagine one of Salinger's most precious characters
> voluntarily on the couch asking what his/her dreams meant! Not likely...
>
> aaron
> >From: Jim Rovira <jrovira@drew.edu>
> >Reply-To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
> >To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
> >Subject: Re: Back to School
> >Date: Sun, 25 Aug 2002 18:47:12 -0400
> >
> >Yeah, there's some real ambivalence there...good observations. It's hard
> >to say
> >where it comes from. An outsider's resentment? Annoyed by criticism but
> >too
> >big a reader himself? Seems like there was one line in Raise High or S:AI
> >about
> >the real problem with lit studies being its dependence upon psychoanalysis,
> >psychanalysis being the only thing Salinger hated as much at literary
> >critics...
> >
> >Jim
> >
> >Aaron Sommers wrote:
> >
> > > One of the most interesting aspects of Salinger's works is when the
> >subject
> > > of education is broached. There is the obvious contempt for the
> >"parasitic"
> > > Lane Coutell's, who want praise for being a lit. critic and are
> >candidates
> > > for future section men in various English Departments. Then there is
> > > Nicholson and the specialized educators (Lidekker group), who like to
> >study
> > > people like Teddy and Zooey, trying to map a blueprint of how the gears
> >in
> > > them turn. But just when I believe that Salinger is moving in a
> >direction
> > > that suggests children should teach themselves, that English professors
> >are
> > > leeches, and that English depratments are useless because you "can't
> >keep a
> > > born scholar ignorant" anyway, I realize the author's "alter-ego"
> >teaches
> > > "Advanced Writing 24-A". And how many members of his all girl
> >composition
> > > class will turn into Mrs. Fedder's, do you think? Moreover, Seymour was
> >the
> > > first to choose his profession as an English Professor, at any Ivy
> >League
> > > school, no less. But he had certainly been a mentor within the family
> >long
> > > before that official appointment at age 18. Also, Mr. Antolini was the
> >only
> > > person Holden respected from school. So does anyone else notice while
> > > Salinger derives pleasure in bad-mouthing aspects of education, he still
> >has
> > > respect for the teaching profession?
> > >
> > > -Aaron
> > >
> > > _________________________________________________________________
> > > MSN Photos is the easiest way to share and print your photos:
> > > http://photos.msn.com/support/worldwide.aspx
> > >
> > > -
> > > * Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
> > > * UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
> ><< jrovira.vcf >>
>
> _________________________________________________________________
> Join the world’s largest e-mail service with MSN Hotmail.
> http://www.hotmail.com
>
> -
> * Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
> * UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH

-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH