Re: a thought
Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Sun, 09 Aug 1998 14:37:31 -0500
Scottie says:
> In which case we shouldn't feel the need to apologise for an old
> vaudeville man who has some funny ideas about his diet &
> a weakness for impressionable young women.
[Sorry to have bumped your last paragraph into first place here, but that's
the most important part.]
I think these are good words of advice -- indeed, it is a charitable and
human reaction, and it is one I too would like to see happen.
> At the same time, I'm pretty sure we shall all come to accept
> the essential truth of what she reports. And quite a number will
> be disjointed to think such lofty thoughts & writing could proceed
> from such mean roots. I think I can already hear the apologists
> & rationalisers switching on their grindstones in preparation for
> axe sharpening.
There will be any number of these -- probably more axes sharpened on The
Man Who Avoided the Media (the "how dare he!" approach we also see in
Washington, D.C.), because he's the bigger prey.
> The woman is a fantasist, or a money grubber or
> a scorned lover ....or whatever...
Here I diverge, because I can't help imagine you're somehow thinking of our
fearless leader, in the U.S. (This is one of the White House's favorite
strategies when under fire.)
> Or these little foibles are
> just what you'd expect from a man of genius & regardless of
> his personal struggles with the ego his message remains as true
> as the Christian message remains pure after all the Borgia Popes ...
> or whatever...
I don't know ... I pity anyone who regards Salinger, or any other writer,
as some saint (Saint Jerome!) who hovers above the mortal world. I doubt
that anyone came to this list because they read biographical material about
Salinger. I'm more inclined to imagine it was because they read his *work*
and reacted positively to it.
> But what about another possibility. Maybe Salinger is simply
> an entertainer. Maybe that's what all artists are. Some people
> are good at telling stories, others at building model cathedrals
> out of matchsticks.
This is not dissimilar to what happend a few years ago to Woody Allen here.
He exhibited questionable judgement, and found himself reviled not only in
the press for his present behavior, but was figuratively dragged through
the aesthetic mud. Suddenly, the movies that were considered so brilliant
were instantly devalued. Secret meanings were found.
We are a profoundly disturbed nation when it comes to matters of the heart
and of the body.
--tim