shucks, i'm all emotional.

SonikSka (SonikSka@aol.com)
Mon, 08 Dec 1997 22:02:03 -0500 (EST) 

In a message dated 97-12-06 16:39:24 EST, AntiUtopia@aol.com writes:

<<  When you get so close to
 the work you can't talk about it... >>

yes, yes, yes YES.  thats exactly it.  its why i didn't take a class called
'short story' in high school [supposed to be the supplement to a course i took
'advanced writing']   --because they read two of salinger's [bananafish and
teddy, of all pieces] short stories, and i knew i couldn't deal with it.  in a
class full of people that want to write seymour off as an insane child
molester out to scare/hurt muriel, and teddy as a pretentious little brat that
killed himself, i can't function.  depending on the mood of the day, i would
either sit quietly and desperately ---conspicuously silent---amid discussion,
or reach the breaking point and give the class an unfortunate, incoherent
earful about seymour/teddy/salinger's thoughts/motives/philosophies.  its
terrible.  and the worst thing is that i feel like franny when i do it, the
franny of her own disgust, imposing my views and condescending----but i'm
right, i swear.  
the first time i read salinger [8th grade, if you recall] i went to my local
library and took out all of his books they had----with no intention of
returning them.  i wanted to keep salinger from the critics, from the very
literary theorists and analysts that we now speak of; those to which perhaps i
belong.  because i knew, even then, that there was so much vulnerable, that
they could warp to fit their case, so much that they could misinterpret and
misjudge.  i wanted to keep each of the characters as mine and make sure that
i wouldn't feel that inevitable pain that would result from having to watch
and listen and even know that there were those who could not understand.  
of course, i can see and love them as they are---but for some reason it still
hurts to be the indirect victim of their---albeit innocent---ignorance.  
jeez, sorry folks.  i didn't mean to get all dramatic on you...just happened
to be one one subject that i feel very strongly about...
bethany