> I don't know if being a participant of the list predetermines my comments > as hypocritical, but I would be extraordinarily content if the man remained > as enigmatic( if not more so), as "reclusive", and as > under-main-streamed as he is now. > I think that perhaps many readers enjoy that part of his character. It's funny ... you know I think if Salinger put out a book revealing all the mysteries of all his books ... `yes Franny was pregnant, Seymour shot himself because of ...' ... we'd all be bitterly disappointed. Likewise, the revelation Joyce Maynard has handed down to us the information that Salinger himself is a fairly eccentric but mostly normal guy is something which I think has effected a lot of us in different ways, all of which have been very interesting to observe. It's like being told Jesus Christ's favourite food was cow's milk flavoured with cloves. It's not a bad thing or a good thing or an anything thing really, but someone has just come and put a big fat thumbprint in our pleasantly formless lump of clay that we can never really mould over again. Camille verona_beach@geocities.com @ THE ARTS HOLE www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442 THE INVERTED FOREST www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest