Re: Re: Plot Plot Plot?
Brendan McKennedy (the.tourist@mailexcite.com)
Tue, 23 Dec 1997 13:03:52 -0700
>Just in general, to everyone on the list: what phrasing is, for you, the
>absolute sound of Salinger's narrative voice? What about a line of
>dialogue?
God, Tim...Don't get me started.
The dialogue in both "Eskimos" and especially
in "Pretty Mouth" are the most brilliant
dialogue ever written. The characters
communicate so much information without
ever saying anything in particular. One
of my favorite things is when characters
repeat entire sentences, as if they were
going to add something, but couldn't think
of anything to add. (I haven't got anything
in front of me right now either, so I'll
paraphrase): In "Eskimos", the girl says
to the older brother, "Didn't you ever call
her or anything? I mean didn't you ever
call her or anything?" Exquisite.
Besides that, Holden is a half-inarticulate
teenager who communicates some of the most
beautifying and terrible views of the world
ever penned. Through his elliptical sort
of floundering, relying on details to say
something ("Kids kill me, they always have
to go meet their friends..."), Holden gives
us pure emotion, pure sublime thought.
Could Salinger have communicated these things
by just telling us? By telling us that
upper-class, post-war America, in its materialism
and falseness, can only alienate and ultimately
ruin the truth-seekers?
Well. He could have just told us, but I wouldn't
have gotten through the first page.
Salinger is entertaining first, beautiful second,
and brilliant after all else. That's good
literature.
Brendan
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