Subject: Re: Salinger's silence
From: L Richards (lrichard@venus.net)
Date: Tue Feb 18 1997 - 11:40:25 GMT
Hello I am new to this but felt a need to reply. Why is it that we must
connect the author's personal life to his work? Do we evaluate all art
based on the personal life of the artist? If that be the case the poetry of
Ezra Pound would be thrown because of the link to facism. The work of
Sylvia Plath would be tossed because she committed suicide with her kids
upstairs. While we are at it lets pitch Hemingway because he put a shotgun
to his forehead.
As much as we can say that Salinger's life is in some way an extension of
his writing, the opposite is true. His writing is an extension of his
experiences. Twain wrote Huck Finn based on people he knew. Salinger wrote
of Holden Caufield based on either himself and his own angst or on those he
knew. It is easy to say that he knows a Seymour or a Buddy and modeled
those characters/people accordingly.
Salinger is no different than Thoreau or even Dickenson: a bit exentric
perhaps, but desiring to be left alone. The man has a bit of money, and a
desire to live deliberately. Given the stir that his one novellette
continues to cause, why not stand back and avoid the controversy. I would
say that we should avoid terms such as stingy and standoffish in regards to
those who simply wish to be left alone.
_________________________________________________________________
>Dear list people,
> I have been re-reading RHTRC and SAI and thinking about Salinger. This has
>probably been said a million times before but I thought I would share it
>anyway. One of the central dilemmas of understanding Salinger's silence
>(and his implied rejection of all of us) is that it contrasts so sharply
>with the generosity, love and charity of thought demonstrated by Seymour,
>and to a lesser extent, Buddy. How can the same man, who created Seymour,
>be so stingy with himself, and so standoffish? If the characters were all
>curmudgeons who hated people, somehow the author's rejection of his public
>would be easier to understand. Do others have thoughts about this contrast?
> Thanks for the list, and for writing. I am lurkish, but enjoying it greatly.
>
>Jude
>
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