Franny disciplined
Camille Scaysbrook (c_scaysbrook@yahoo.com)
Tue, 03 Aug 1999 12:01:52 +1000
Jim wrote:
> Nah, I think what I'm saying is separate from the intelligence/intellect
> issue. What I'm talking about is the development of our natural
capacities
> through training and discipline. What Salinger appeared to me to be
talking
> about is the misuse of our natural capacity to serve our vanity. Totally
> different thing. Really, a second rate intellect...or a third rate
> intellect...could be a good section man.
>
> However, reading "Teddy" I do think Teddy himself, at least, would
disagree
> with my views of our educational system. But it's not that he's
> anti-education, it's that the educational model he favors is totally
> different from our own. The philosophy behind it comes from a completely
> different point of view. That's a diff. subject, tho.
Good point. You know, I wonder what the effect of discipline would have
been on Salinger's writings? I only ask because - as a closet classicist, I
regret to say, I always find randomness the hardest thing to simulate -
I've always found Salinger's most disciplined pieces the most satisfying.
Franny for example is written with the most beautiful compactness and
discipline. Catcher even more so, because it gives the impression of
absolute randomness within what is actually quite a tightly structured
work. Salinger's later work has a *kind* of discipline, but it is a more
loose `Point A to Point B' kind of system. I wonder how closely we could
ally Salinger's later style to the style inherent in letter writing? (That
and the fact that many of it is actually written in letter form) It just
occured to me that letter writing tends to have a similar sort of
discipline - ranging from a judicious reigning-in of the wilder
digressions, to something that is simply a collection of wild digressions
(: Sometimes I wonder if Salinger wouldn't have benefited somewhat by being
a more structurally disciplined writer - although you could never question
his dedication to any other aspect, i mean here is a guy who basically gave
up his life for writing ...
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
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