Salinger and Lit Theory
AntiUtopia (AntiUtopia@aol.com)
Fri, 05 Dec 1997 16:45:23 -0500 (EST)
Here's a little quote that may lend some insight to Salinger's feelings about
professional literary criticism...
"If there is an amateur reader still left in the world--or anybody who just
reads and runs--I ask him or her, with untellable affection and gratitude, to
split the dedication of this book four ways with my wife and children."
>From the dedication to Raise High...and Seymour, An Introduction.
To me, the bottom line with lit theory is that everyone, trained or not, who
reads and talks about what they read is a critic. When you get so close to
the work you can't talk about it you're closer to Salinger's ideal reader.
But the minute you open your mouth, you replay the history of the development
of literary theory Time and Time again... :)
There's just no getting away from the questions asked and the answers explored
whenever we read and interpret a work, then try to communicate that experience
to others. That's what English majors do. Everyone who posts to this list is
a literary critic, like it or not :)
Jim