Subject: RE: super secret spy group
From: Becky Spiro Green (becky@huntington.org)
Date: Fri Feb 14 1997 - 18:37:52 GMT
Quoting Elizabeth, and speaking for myself to all you bananacitizens:
> it's the sme reason i don't want any of my favourite bands to
be played on the radio.
frat boys should not read the sacred texts! the people salinger
makes fun o fshould not dirty his works with their evil eyes!
ok, that's a bit harsh, but the point is, people who should
read salinger will find him one day, somehow...
what if the smiths or jesus and mary chain were on your local radio?
or even worse, if they were played at a homecoming dance?
(trying to make a comparison) <
> it's just that JDS is so good, there should be like some sort of JDS masonic
club; a super secret spy group, if youwill...
keep him under wraps for the good people :) <
Perhaps JDS himself has been thinking this way for the past thirty
years or so. Maybe that's why he hasn't published anything: he doesn't
wish the wrong people to read it.
However, I think this point of view is wrong, both regarding Salinger's
already-published works and the mysterious ones he's keeping to himself
in Cornish, New Hampshire. There's a reason the words "publish" and
"public" are similar: when you publish something you've created--a book, a
work of art, a Web page, whatever--you are choosing to let it loose in the
world. Whoever sees it after that is out of your control.
The freedom to choose among all published works--what books to read,
what art to view, what music to listen to--is basic to a free, uncensored
society.
Some questions to think about if you believe only certain people should
read the good stuff (I'm not pretending I have the answers, just posing the
questions):
Whose job is it to determine whether you're good enough to read Salinger?
If you're a phony or a frat boy, is it possible that reading Salinger will
improve your outlook on life, and make you less phony?
If you are an artist and you believe you have created something truly
beautiful, do you want only people already suited to see it to have access
to it? Or might people less suited be enlightened by it?
If you were unfortunate enough to grow up in a home without books, and
never had a teacher or a friend recommend Salinger, never saw a library
display a copy prominently, might you miss out on him altogether, or
discover him later than you should have, even though you are a qualified
and sincere reader?
If you choose to read Salinger, and love his books, and later someone
says you're a phony and shouldn't have been allowed near them, would you
disagree?
If you choose to read Salinger, and believe yourself to be a qualified, non-
phony member of the super secret spy group, do you feel some frustration
at the small number of books and stories he has published? Do you wish he
would stop sitting on his new stuff and let it out in the world where you can
see it? Do you think maybe he's sitting on them because he thinks you're
not good enough to read them? Or because someone else is not good
enough?
Also--I think Salinger sees the tendency to exclusivity in himself, or at least
his alter-ego Buddy Glass does. The end of Seymour--An Introduction
shows this recognition--the shallow college girls Buddy teaches are worth
teaching after all. And Zooey's Fat Lady--unenlightened, with the radio on
all day--is worth performing for. But Salinger himself, perhaps, isn't able to
follow his own (or Zooey's, or Seymour's) advice, and isn't performing for all
us Fat Ladies.
Becky
a librarian
Most librarians, despite certain stereotypes, take strong positions for the
freedom to read and against censorship.
Looking forward to the bananafish response.
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