...and he stoppeth one of three...

Scottie Bowman (rbowman@indigo.ie)
Fri, 04 Dec 1998 19:00:23 +0000 

    Mattis,

    I guess in this instance I understood Salinger to be aiming at the kind
    of immediacy which comes from the unapologetic, non-explanatory
    'button-holing' of those opening sentences.  If he had given clear
indications
    that Holden was speaking from the lunatic asylum or even simply talking
    to a therapist it would have been all too easy for the reader to keep
his
    distance, to get 'off the hook', to maintain an amused or coolly
sympathetic
    attitude in which his hero would have been rather too easily forgotten.

    I'm not sure if this is incompatible with my enthusiasm for the primacy
    of the writer's intention.  I suppose I still think what the author is
trying
    to effect is the important thing.  When the transmission does not take
    place, or is scrambled, the fault lies either in his own lack of skill
or in
    the stupidity of the reader.  But he should not expect the reader to do
    the work for him & make a lovely silk purse out of his discarded sow's
    ear.

    Scottie B.