Re: intelligence of the author vs. intelligence of the characters

i wonder if all of these mfa programs are for naught? or self-defeating? or? they've been around for 30+ years, with their workshop craft courses leading to a degree, and i'm not sure that i can name one graduate whose published work is any where near the level of salinger's. even the concept of the young writer--doesn't 'the new yorker' use 40 or under for their summer fiction choices--doesn't bode well against salinger's accomplishments by that age. (for by forty he had published up through the story 'seymour: an introduction', i.e., nearly all of his work. which forty year old today has an 'esme,' a 'catcher', a 'franny', a 'raise high...' (plus some others) between covers?) i guess i'm just blathering along saying that the accomplishments of the legion of mfa-ers don't seem to me to be anywhere near the accomplishments of salinger. or maybe the recent literary landscape is so cluttered with books that one can't identify the 3 or 4 real writers of the last quarter cent
 ury. or maybe it's just a time of a lot of crafted excellence but no genius.
kim
 Jim Rovira wrote:Oh, I'm using "accomplished" in the same sense that I consider Salinger
to be "accomplished" -- in the sense of the literary merit of his works,
ability to influence readers, etc. There's only one "Catcher in the
Rye," of course, but then Salinger only wrote on himself :). Most
authors don't.

Jim

Kim Johnson wrote:

> jim,
>
> i grant you that the writing factories are in full swing and much of
> the product is 'accomplished'. that's just the problem: it's
> 'accomplished'.
>
> kim
>
> Jim Rovira wrote:
>
> You'd be surprised at what MFA programs have put out...the
> Iowa Writer's
> Workship by itself has a pretty long list of accomplished
> writers that have
> come through their program...
>
> that being said, I don't think anyone can "teach" anyone how
> to be a great
> fiction writer.
>
> But there's no substitute for intelligent readers....
>
> Jim
>
> Kim Johnson wrote:
>
> > interesting to note that salinger did not include
> wordsworth in his list
> > of writers he loves. in fact, in 'seymour: an
> introduction', buddy lumps
> > wordsworth with browning as miss overman's old swains.
> >
> > re: iq and genius--thanks, cecilia, for your extended
> email on this
> > subject. i was just throwing out the number cause it stuck
> in my mind,
> > and that salinger, on that test, didn't score off the
> board a la seymour
> > or zooey or teddy. i would say that sa! linger is a genius
> of a writer,
> > without a doubt. and, most importantly, that he had the
> genius to
> > protect and nuture his gift from an early age. it's quite
> apparent he
> > wasn't going to be helped by staying in the educational
> system. (just the
> > opposite.) it seems he only needed one writing course from
> whit burnett,
> > and that was it. (i don't think today's mfa degrees are
> producing too
> > many salingers.)
> >
> > kim
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> > Do You Yahoo!?
> > Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes
> begin:vcard
> n:Rovira;James
> tel;cell:973.960.5010
> tel;fax:973.408.3068
> tel;home:973.408.4187
> tel;work:973.408.3052
> x-mozilla-html:TRUE
> url:http://www.jamesrovira.20m.com/index.htm
> org:Drew University;English Department
> version:2.1
> email;internet:jrovira@drew.edu
> title:Ph.D. cand! idate
> note:Visit my website at http://www.jamesrovira.20m.com
> adr;quoted-printable:;;P.O. Box 802=0D=0ACM
> 1975-Drew;Madison;NJ;07940;US
> fn:James Rovira
> end:vcard
>
>
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> Do You Yahoo!?
> Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes
begin:vcard
n:Rovira;James
tel;cell:973.960.5010
tel;fax:973.408.3068
tel;home:973.408.4187
tel;work:973.408.3052
x-mozilla-html:TRUE
url:http://www.jamesrovira.20m.com/index.htm
org:Drew University;English Department
version:2.1
email;internet:jrovira@drew.edu
title:Ph.D. candidate
note:Visit my website at http://www.jamesrovira.20m.com
adr;quoted-printable:;;P.O. Box 802=0D=0ACM 1975-Drew;Madison;NJ;07940;US
fn:James Rovira
end:vcard

---------------------------------
Do You Yahoo!?
Yahoo! Finance - Get real-time stock quotes
-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
Received on Fri Aug 30 12:32:24 2002