Re: "Seymour: A Disaster" or a "Kitsch Saint"
Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Tue, 31 Aug 1999 13:02:45 -0400
At 4:35 PM +0530 on 8/31/1999, you wrote:
> I suspect I had read this particular piece in some anthology or the
> other, but today while desultorily looking at the NYRB archives on the
> web, I stumbled upon this 1963 review of RHTRB & S:AI which, IMESHO,
> offers many a conversational theory ("sheer crap or priceless"):
It's actually amusing in retrospect to read some of the contemporary
reviews of Salinger. A lot of reviewers were what we might call
"fuddy-duddy" about Catcher, and were aghast at Holden's language and
general attitude. They lack any appreciation of the big picture, but
of course they don't have our advantage of nearly a 50-year
perspective on the book....
Also, after Catcher was a success, some of the cattier people were
out gunning for him, as if they wanted him to flop badly. A strange
thing, criticism. (Though, seriously, some of my friends are critics
and forgive me for my raised eyebrow; one, who may well be reading
this 8-), tried to convince me, when we were in college, that I
didn't exist. I think I lost the argument, so I'm not sure who is
typing this response.)
--tim