Subject: Re: 2 Q's
From: Benjamin Samuels (madhava@sprynet.com)
Date: Thu Feb 24 2000 - 13:18:10 EST
"*O- let them come*" and the paragraph actually ends with "*the
> >old red capet is out*"
> >RHTRBCaSAI p.142-143
> >
> >It's hard not to see this as a bit of an invitation to interact with
> >Salinger not just through his text but through his life as well. So
will,
> >I can't see how you can read Salinger, or, for that matter, anyone
without
> >thinking what it means.
>
> I am afraid I do not follow your line of reasoning here. The attraction
> of Seymour's life to whatever young people is not cast as attempt to
then
> try and interpret any writing Seymour might have produced, rather as the
> kind of curiosity associated with the prevalent culture-of-personality.
And
> Buddy's desire to discuss it is, again, for his own purpose of coming to
> grips with the person Seymour, rather than with any of his art.
I'm assuming that for someone like Seymour his life, that is his looks, his
physical mannerisms, his way of speaking, his relationships are indelibly
tied to his art. In fact, I might even go a step further and say that his
life *is* his work of Art. I feel this runs all through SAI where Buddy
keeps trying to capture something about Seymour and resorts to descibing a
poem of his, or is trying to descibe a book of poems and resorts to telling
about this or that icident of Seymours life. That's just the way I read it.
> and further:
>
> > ... God is to Salinger as
> >Seymour is to Buddy goes my favorite reading and so the invitation of
Buddys
> >for people to ask him about Seymour is an invitation of Salingers to ask
him
> >about God, (or Beauty, or Spirit, or the Old Man of the Mountain that
> >pursues him)
>
> An interesting analogy, but hard to substantiate. I would think that
> someone who imagined this kind of divine figurative kinship would
> end up under medical supervision for a messianic complex.
Well, all I can say is I can't do it alone, but I'm ready when everyone else
is. The point I think I'm trying to make is that although salinger would
not like people to invade his privacy just as a ritual feeding of the
culture-of-personality, he does want to share his experience of life as
something divine- that he loves to do that. And, in my thinking about Art,
that's the one of the best ways to descibe it- as revealing the Divine in
life.
>
> and lastly:
>
> > ... (though I admit to an avid curiosity
> >about it because I want to hear all about that Old Man of the Mountain
that
> >pursues him, not even really because I'm so interested in him, but the
for
> >the completely selfish reason that I'm interested in the Old Man of the
> >Mountain that pursues me!)
>
> I agree that Mr. Salinger has succeeded in writing beautifully about
> the ideas of spirituality and God-knowing in a way that speaks to us of
> our own aspirations. But I would hesitate to say that the religious
> picture he presents is that informed or coherent. After all, he is
> writing about people dealing with spiritual issues, not necessarily
> trying to present us with any given theology. To gain a better
> understanding of that which pursues you, a better source might be
> your guru/minister/rabbi/imam/philosopher/self/rock-and-roll-star
> (just kidding about the rock star).
>
> all the best,
> Mattis
I feel that Salinger writes from a perspective where the qestion of this or
that specific theology isn't important. True Spirituality is Uiversal;
Perenial. I agree that one shouldn't go to salinger for spirtual philosophy
or theology. He doesn't explain spirituality but I do think he tries to
deliver a sort of Zen Thwak, a set of symbols and ideas that might cause a
sudden spiritual insight to occur on it's own. To me, maybe because I
uderstand my life through the eyes of a bodhisatva, that is the goal of Art.
I realize Art can be many things to many people, but that is my perspective.
I feel I enter into sort of tenuous ground when talk turns to spirituality.
It seems the deeper inside our true selves we speak from, the more grand and
intricate our linguistic bridges need to become to hold us together.
Although I'm unsure whether it's really possible to make the cross on such a
linguistic bridge (it's definately easier to make cross out of such
bridges), I enjoy it and the challenges that make it possible. It may even
be Art.
Love,
Madhava
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