Jim wrote: > Catcher and Ulysses are narratives describing a journey home. That's about > as common as it gets :) People have been doing that in many, many cultures > for thousands of years. Yes ... that's exactly the point I am making - that the story follows a fundamental universal narrative (that of the journey) which, despite being set in a very specific time and place, transcends that time and place and becomes a story of pretty much universal recognition. I don't know how `Smoke Gets In Your Eyes' goes, but I know exactly how Holden felt as he heard it coming from the carousel, as surely as if it had been `Perfect Circle' by REM. It's the act of observation itself that we identify with, not necessarily what is being observed. > But think about "Franny and Zooey." "Franny" is about Franny talking with > Lane in a restaurant then having a breakdown. "Zooey" is about Zooey talking > with his mother in a bathroom about Franny having a breakdown. I can't think > of any immediate parallels in world literature off the top of my head :) > This kinda validates Scottie's point, I think, about the nature of at least > some of Salinger's fiction -- he's writing about a narrow range of > experiences. I still love F&Z, of course, simply because of its attention to > the "observation of details," as you pointed out. But that's only because > the details being observed are very familiar to me, and invested with a lot > of meaning. *Exactly*. Jim, this is just what I said! That judging Franny (or as you point out, Zooey) on the same terms, we just don't get the same effect. Although I can sympathise with that enormous stocktake-list of the Glasses' bathroom cabinet, I can't empathise with it. I think that's the difference. All those details don't mean anything to me, because Franny and Zooey are two stories that had to happen in New York, that *couldn't* have happened in ancient India. It totally and entirely vindicates and validates what Scottie said! Vive la on topic !!! Camille verona_beach@geocities.com _________________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com