Re: what, exactly...?

Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Sat, 05 Dec 1998 11:08:58 +1100 

Boy oh boy ... for once, Scottie, I heartily agree with you! I've always
thought the topic of Holden's addressing his speech to a therapist was a
very dull one. Although to me, the very fact that it's implied seems to
indicate that Salinger is putting *us* in the position of analysis; we are
Holden's therapist. And interestingly enough, given Salinger's tirades
against analysis in this and other fiction, I guess he subconsciously
enforces on us the position of the phoney. We are made to confirm Holden's
belief that everyone except him is a phony. Then again, *we* know we're not
phoneys (well, we suspect we aren't (: ) which perhaps a) makes us question
whether or not we are phonies and b) makes us mistrust Holden's judgement
of everyone else. In short, it may be a very veiled way of making us
realise the core of the book - that everyone is to certain extents phoney.

Here, as a very bizarre coincidence, I will add that the kid next door who
plays bagpipes (I'm not kidding) is right now this very minute playing
Robbie Burns' `Comin' Through the Rye' !! 

Scottie Bowman wrote:
>     I don't doubt various arguments can be brought forward to support
>     or demolish the idea of Holden addressing a therapist.  But does
>     no one share my feeling of futility that the question should be even
>     considered ?  That seductive, confiding, 'come here & listen to
this...'
>     tone of voice seems to me to render finicky & over-literal the
attempt
>     to place Holden in any precise setting.  I doesn't greatly engage me
>     whether he's talking to an analyst, a friend in the bar, or even his
own
>     reflection in the mirror.  The magic is all in that droll,
embittered,
>     idealistic voice.  And it can be all too quickly steamrollered by
> Jesuitical
>     dissection.
> 
>     While accepting that serious writing deserves serious reading, it's
this
>     very finickiness - this clever citing of evidence first one way then
the
> other -
>     that I personally find so irritating in the whole attitude of the
> professional scholar.

Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
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