Yeah...i lived in Paris (Blvd St. Montparnasse close to Le Dome) in l976--how else can americans really see themselves? I read a lot of Miller and Balzac in Paris, and even Hemingway's _A Moveable Feast_ to know how good living Paris really was...will On Wed, 12 Aug 1998, Malcolm Lawrence wrote: > WILL HOCHMAN wrote: > > > Malcs, _Invisible Man_ by Ralph Ellison and _The Autobiography of Malcolm > > X_ really got to me and I'm not black > > They really got to me too. As did Native Son, as did Nobody Knows My Name.... > > > ...but anyone who understands alienation and a struggle to respect oneself > > can inhabit these great > > books > > And that's pretty much the bottom line of this thread. Paying inordinate > attention to things like race, creed, color, gender, sexual orientation, > religion, heritage and geography diverts one's attention away from the real > metaphors at play in the work and just leaves you measuring yourself up to a > visual idea rather than a visceral one. It's like that line of Seymour's from > "Franny & Zooey" that I've always loved: "...all legitimate religious study > must lead to unlearning the differences, the illusory differences, between > boys and girls, animals and stones, day and night, heat and cold." > > > , even if you happen to be an unimaginative american, eh? will > > Ever lived abroad, Will? > > Malcolm > >