Re: Salinger & Burns (NOT George!)actually not, but Gatsby
Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Mon, 20 Dec 1999 22:12:55 -0500
At 8:48 PM -0500 on 12/20/1999, you wrote:
> OSR--Tim's point about Huck being a 19th century pre-cursor to Holden seems
> almost self-evident to me, but that's maybe because up here in the Great
> White North the two books are inevitably paired in high school English
> courses...
There is also a passage in Hemingway's GREEN HILLS OF AFRICA in which
he pontificates, "American literature began with Huckleberry Finn."
It was non-fiction, he was at the start of his sad decline, and he
offers no specifics to back up his remark (he is, after all, Papa,
who should remain unchallenged), but it's another interesting note.
I might add, for the lovers of Hemingway here, that I am quite with
you. I love Hemingway the way I love honey. Sometimes it is a bit
off, sometimes it has beeswax in it, sometimes it isn't what you're
looking for. But when it's good, it's very good. And that (he said,
timidly) is all I have to say about Hemingway. Anyone who could
write the majority of those "first 49 stories" is a master. True,
some are not very good, but many are beyond brilliant.
--tim
ObSal: It is strange that during the war, Hemingway said of Salinger,
"He has a hell of a talent," but that is the last remark I've ever
seen made by EH about JDS. Does anyone else have pointers to other
sources, other quotes?