Subject: Re: 22 uncollected stories
From: Jim Rovira (jrovira@drew.edu)
Date: Thu Dec 06 2001 - 15:23:06 GMT
I'm not sure what you were diagreeing with...that he shouldn't republish
earlier work? I didn't say he shouldn't republish any of it. I thought
there were many fine pieces he should republish -- and that he should
republish these before he republished Hapworth. I also agree with your
critiques of Hapworth...and with the value of reading it to find out about
the Glass family. I didn't think it was a good read or built upon a
plausible or meaningful thesis, but I did say it was valuable for finding
out about the Glass family.
So I'm not sure where we disagree, other than (possibly) that I think
Salinger is smart not to republish Hapworth (when he has better material
out there to republish), while you may think he should republish Hapworth?
I didn't say it wasn't worth reading if you're an avid Salinger fan -- I
think avid fans should probably read it. But I don't think it's the best
work to dredge up if you want to remind everyone about J.D. Salinger's
work.
The effect might be that it may motivate people to want to forget him.
Jim
Will Hochman wrote:
>
> Jim, I respectfully disagree with your point about Salinger not
> republishing early work. Since we both have spent time at the
> Princeton Library, I have to admit "Ocean Full of Bowling Balls" and
> one or two other unpublished stories there really rang my bell. I was
> fortunate enough when I was there to gain permission to read the
> stories into a tape recorder and when I return to them I always feel
> like they are well worth reading and certainly worthwhile for anyone
> wanting to know about some family background. The uncollected stories
> are uneven, but I think they are important in the way they show a
> young writer maturing. I think "the Inverted Forest" is really one of
> his best stories...it's dark and not as sharp as anything in the 9,
> but I think Raymond Ford is a version of Seymour in the real
> world...And finally, as you know, I must disagree about Hapworth as
> well. It's not a fun story to read, but I have pages of reading notes
> that round out much of what I know of the glass family. Essentially,
> it's a story that fuses literature and a spiritual sense of being
> that may not be worth the word count, but still offers anyone with
> Salinger interests some pretty good nuggets. will
> --
> Will Hochman
>
> Assistant Professor of English
> Southern Connecticut State University
> 501 Crescent St, New Haven, CT 06515
> 203 392 5024
>
> http://www.southernct.edu/~hochman/willz.html
>
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