Re: Warren French
WILL HOCHMAN (hochman@uscolo.edu)
Wed, 02 Dec 1998 21:28:00 -0700 (MST)
I met Warren 6 or 7 years ago when he was nice enough to visit my school
and speak to my students. He encouraged me kindly with keen comments on
my dis, and we still send sporadic snail mail...he's retired after a
distinguished career as a professor. He wrote powerfully on Steinbeck but
I like his work on Salinger even better because:
He's the only critic to write two books on JDS--I enjoy the changes in his
readings as well as the thoroughness of his research.
His "take" on Salinger texts seems to make good sense to me as a
"baseline" or guide.
He doens't talk down to his reader and offers Salinger info in well
ordered ways.
****
I have to admit I don't agree with Warren on the centrality of "Uncle
Wiggily in CT" for Salinger. Yes, I think the phony-nice dichotomoy that
he discusses in detail (beginning in one of the first collections on
Salinger--The Wisconsin Studies in Contemp Lit, l963) makes a lot of
sense, but I tend to want to read poetry at the center of Salinger instead
of social commentary, even though both are important...
I also had a bit of distancing with Warren over this list but that may be
more of a generational thing...he's an avid movie buff but the really
lovable thing about him and Salinger is that not only is he probably
Salinger's best critic, but he lived in Cornish up until the mid-eighties.
He really lived in the same small town as Salinger and swore to me that he
never saw or sought the author even though he summered in Cornish for more
than ten years!
If it's ok, I will probably hit the arhive when we are finished with the
thread and send him hard copies...
will