Holden address those readers that "want to know the truth" On Sun, 6 Dec 1998, J J R wrote: > "Uninteresting" is a word so subjective it's virtually meaningless. > "Irrelevant" may be better, but to use that word we'd have to justify it > first from the text. > > I guess it's obvious to me that Holden is "deliberately" addressing > someone. In a sense, ALL novels and ALL poems--ALL works, for that > matter, address Someone. Directly or indirectly. > > Now, Holden is "deliberately" addressing someone. The next question to > ask is, "Is it a specific 'someone' or a general 'someone'?" I've just > finished reading Jonathan Carroll's Outside the Dog Museum--like Catcher, > it's a first person account addressing the reader. But it's not > addressing any particular reader that I can tell. And I've finished not > too long ago John Irving's A Prayer for Owen Meany. Another first person > account telling a story to someone. But it isn't addressing a particular > reader to me either. > > Holden's first person account is different. Holden seems to be > addressing a particular reader that has known expectations. That's why > the question is interesting to me. It doesn't really seem to fit the > paradigm you describe at the end of your post like Irving's or Carroll's > work does. It stands out from these two. Makes me want to sniff around > :) > > Jim > > On Sat, 05 Dec 1998 18:02:10 -0500 Paul Janse <PJanse@compuserve.com> > writes: > >The question of who Holden is addressing seems to me very > >uninteresting. > >The fact that he *is* addressing *someone is*. To me it is just Holden > >Caulfield's and Salinger's variant of the very old literary device: > >"List= > >en > >to this, I am telling you a tale", which gives the story a special > >kind o= > >f > >truthfullness, well, I don't know whether this is the right word, in > >any > >case it gives the story a special tone. Did anyone ever read Tolstoy's > >'Kreutzer Sonate'? This story is told in a train by a man to his > >accident= > >al > >fellow passenger. Same effect. The question who this other man is, is > >beside the point. > > > >Paul J. > > > > ___________________________________________________________________ > You don't need to buy Internet access to use free Internet e-mail. > Get completely free e-mail from Juno at http://www.juno.com/getjuno.html > or call Juno at (800) 654-JUNO [654-5866] >