Re: letter to list

Paul Kennedy (kennedyp@toronto.cbc.ca)
Tue, 03 Aug 1999 14:57:20 -0400 (EDT)

First off, methinks the gentleman doth protest to much:

>
>I must protest at this slur on my fair name. First, I am called that
>suicidee 

But Sonny, doesn't everybody who cybersurfs their way to your webpage
confront some sort of heading, right at the top, proclaiming "Sonny: An
Introduction"? It's an OBVIOUS allusion.... (I previously thought that
Napoleon was the only person capable of annointing himself--but since the
hat seems almost to fit in this case, I'd hoped you'd wear it, ESPECIALLY
since you've past the dangerous age....  I meant it as a compliment, honest!)


 and then the epithet "nice" is hurled at me with a finality
>that leaves me gasping under its impact and weight.
>


I'm guilty as charged in THIS instance.  I can't believe I called you
"nice".... I can't believe I called ANYbody 'nice'.... You're charming, and
erudite, and enlightened, and insightful.... You're funny, and articulate,
and serious, and friendly....  But nice?  I'm SO sorry!

(OSR:  For the record, on page 1 of TCitR, Holden tells us that his parents are 
        "nice and all--but they're also touchy as hell"....



>
> since
>almost all the girls and women I know seem to prefer Zooey or Buddy, my
>endeavour has been to strive to be like them 



To be honest, I've always found Buddy to be a bit of a windbag....  In fact,
I usually try to trim my personal sails whenever I feel my prose approaching
that found in Buddy's breezy--and sometimes boring--paragraphs.  He's smart,
but he knows it, and he likes to show that he knows it.  Otherwise, he'd be
Seymour--and this little orb ain't big enough for TWO Seymours....  (Zooey
is another matter.  I'd be happy to be cast as Z. Glass in our class
play--so long as the fishbowl will allow me to say my initial is ZED... Not
ZEE!.... He'd say it as ZED to acknowledge his Australian heritage, Right
Camille?)  (....more likely, though, I'll be nominated for the role of Ward
Stradlater.... Or, given my advanced age, Old Spencer....  You ought to take
Seymour as the compliment it's intended to be....)



>
>Scottie? He is the closest to Holden I can think of -- as irreverent as
>ever, and still managing to remain endearingly lovable



NOW I think you're on to something.  I've never previously tried to imagine
Holden growing up.... In my mind, he'll always be sixteen....  But it would
be a wonderful twist on the school of thinking that says the book is
dictated to a shrink if we learn that Holden grew up, graduated from
university, went to med school, became an analyst, moved to Dublin, and
changed his name to Scottie!

Confirm or deny, Mr. Bowperson!

Cheers,

Paul