Subject: Re: 2 Q's
AntiUtopia@aol.com
Date: Fri Feb 25 2000 - 07:51:45 EST
In a message dated 2/25/00 12:09:10 AM Eastern Standard Time,
invertedforest@angelfire.com writes:
<< Even Esme's broken watch, laden with all its symbolism, speaks more
eloquently when accepted with the same lack of guile that Sergeant X accepted
it.
---
Louise Z. Brooks >>
Ok, on one level I agree. I agree there are seemingly "non-rational" images
that may actually be Zen inspired shot through Salinger's stories here and
there that we need to allow to have its effect on us.
And when I read the stories, they have that effect. And its not something I
can immediately define or verbalise.
BUT, Esme's watch, for example -- Esme is my favorite Salinger, period, and I
think it's probably his best writing. The watch, along with the last line of
the story, had a powerful effect on me, something that was purely visceral
that I couldn't really verbalize at the time.
HOWEVER :) -- I think I probably could verbalize the effect now. If I sat
down to write a piece of criticism on Esme (and I want to some day) I could
describe the effect, how it was acheived, and relate that to the "meaning" of
the story.
What I Disagree with is the idea that the watch "speaks more eloquently"
before I have verbalized the image's effect than afterwards. All you're
really speaking of is your preference, but you're using objective language to
describe the preference and trying somehow to make that preference binding on
or meaningful to others (at least by way of some general statements about
literature). I think you prefer the visceral to the cognitive, so FOR YOU
the watch is more eloquent before you've verbalized its meaning than
afterwards.
It's a common judgment in late 20th/early 21st century American society to
believe that feelings are more important (or more real and genuine) than
ideas. But this is not the only way to think.
For me, it depends on the story and what I'm saying about it. Some stories
are ruined for me by verbalizing, others are enriched.
But that doesn't denigrate the value of being able to, and then actually
doing, the verbalizing. It just means the story has become meaningful on a
different level. I bet, given some time and thought, I could verbalize the
role of the Zen images as well....
Jim
-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Thu Mar 02 2000 - 19:30:23 EST