Subject: Re: 2 Q's
From: Mattis Fishman (mattis@argoscomp.com)
Date: Wed Feb 23 2000 - 11:25:11 EST
Madahava writes:
>"It was my intention, right here, to tell the reader that when, or if, young
>people should stop by to see me about Seymours life or death, a curious
>personal affliction of my own, alas, would make such an audience utterly
>unfeasible.....[he has two entertaining reaons why he would have turned them
>away which he realizes aren't true enough, but...] the terrible and
>undiscountable fact has just reached me, between paragraphs, that I *yearn*
>to talk, to be querried, to to be interrogated, about this particular dead
>man." I'll just quote the two other phrases that appear in italics in the
>paragraph: "*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. This theme,
of Buddy examining his relationship with and reaction to Seymour, is the
basic point of the book (as you point out yourself, rather nicely, in your
recent post) and seems very remote from any attitude toward literary
analysis. How is this inviting us to interact with Salinger himself?
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.
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
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