Re: Mr. Antolini
Peggy F. Jean-Louis (pfj6868@is.nyu.edu)
Fri, 05 Dec 1997 11:51:46 -0500 (EST)
Thanks to everyone who has responded to my comment about possibly leaving
the list. I appreciate your feedback and it has certainly given me food
for thought. I wanted to clarify a couple of things. First of all, I
certainly don't object to people using literary criticism to discuss any
author's work, including Salinger's, in any way. In fact, I welcome it,
even if I do not always understand it because I know how exciting an
acedemic discussion of something can be and how important it is to apply
various theories in order to aid in the understanding of whatever is being
studied. What I do object to, in fact find offensive, is having someone
throw literary theory in my face in a condescending manner and basically
invalidate what I have to say, my approach to literature (not to mention
my favorite English professor) because it's supposedly all due to "Reader
Response" theory or whatever other nonsense people conjure to make
themselves feel intelligent. Especially when I am discussing something I
love as much as do 'Catcher.' Whether or not anyone else thinks that
behavior is offensive is immaterial to me. I'm just not sure that I want
to discuss this subject with people who think it's okay to judge the value
of other people's contributions. That's not what I signed up for and
that's not anything I want to be a part of. I want to be part of a
community were people can freely express their thoughts without fear that
someone else is going to come along and ruin it. As Holden says "People
are always ruining things for you" and frankly, this isn't something I
want ruined. It's totally okay for everyone else to think that Antolini is
intentionally left ambiguous, I don't happen to feel that way and i want
to be able to say that, and if I feel particularly articulate that day,
explain my reasons. Maybe I've reacted too sensitively to this whole
issue and will try not to in the future but I felt what I felt.
Peggy