Re: Muriel in S:AI

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Tim O'Connor wrote:

> > P.S. I've also always thought that it was a handy device Salinger used
> > that allows him to talk them up, so to speak, without having to actually
> > produce these world-class poems. Maybe he didn't trust himself to not
> > disappoint?
>
> It was a problem John Irving faced in The World According to Garp.  In
> order to make Garp a credible fiction writer, Irving had to write a "Garp"
> story, which he did, and it appears in the book as "The Pension
> Grillparzer."
>
> I've always thought it was a convenient out for Salinger; it avoids
> ridicule and it preserves a sense of mystery about Seymour and his poetry.

This reminds me of a Peanuts cartoon I read when I must have been 7 or 8. Linus
is drawing a portrait and Charlie Brown looks over his shoulder and notices the
subject has his hands behind his back. Charlie Brown asks Linus whether he was
trying to make him look more elegant, more pensive or both. Linus simply
replies: "I can't draw hands."

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• Maybe in reply to: Peggy F. Jean-Louis: "Muriel in S:AI"
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