Subject: Re: bananafish-digest V1 #198
Matthew_Stevenson@BAYLOR.EDU
Date: Wed Feb 12 1997 - 22:34:24 GMT
my first contribution!
not to accuse anyone of intellectual snobbishness, but do you honestly think
that you are a "better" fan than those of us who first read JDS in class just
because you read him first outside of school? i mean, if your parents "turned
you onto" JDS (which i take to mean "urged you to read him") then how is your
situation any different? you were a little younger maybe, and your teachers
were a little more influential probably, but other than that i see no
difference.
and even if there is some difference it is inconsequential. people that read
CITR for some high school english class, say its a good book, and never pick it
or anything else by JDS up again, are certainly not as staunch fans as you or i
or anyone else on the list. but there are those of us who read CITR because we
had to and still got a lot out of it. we are the ones who went to the library
and checked out nine stories and franny and zooey and rise high the roof beam
carpenters and anything else we could get our hands on. we are the ones who
read and reread and reread all of JDS's stuff because we admire him and love all
the wisdom to be had in his writing. and we are every bit as deserving of all
that JDS has to offer as you are.
(i sound rather pissed don't i? my apologies, i'm just sort of reacting.)
on another note, i really enjoyed the comparison between JDS and Hemingway, my
two personal favorite authors. i just finished a paper about The Sun Also Rises
and CITR. i sort of compared the characters in one to the characters in the
other. what i got out of the comparison is that EH wanted to show that the loss
of innocence is inevitable, but endurable, and JDS wanted to show that it indeed
is not inevitable, nor should it be endurable. any comments? also, if anyone
has info on how to get a hold of the letters between my two gods, please post
it, thanks.
ms
On Wed, 12 Feb 1997 15:01:12 -0400 (EDT) bananafish@cassatt.Mass-USR.COM wrote:
>hi there,
>
>a few things i'd like to add...
>i rather enjoy noam chomsky, and, sure, everyone who is on this list and has
>email access is priveleged, but not fucking rich. the fact that i do get to
>eat every day might make me rich as opposed to starving people in third world
>countries, but i have access because i work and have student loans to pay
>the enormous tuition bill which includes internet access as a cost.
>
>i'm not trying to piss anyone off, but i've been talking about socialism all
>day and, compared to most of the people i know, i'm not priveleged
>financially. maybe in other ways, but whatever. i don't want to anger anyone,
>whoever put the chomsky quote has my regards for reading him. ;)
>
>i think when that guy wrote <sycophants> he probably wanted to see what
>everyone would write after he left. i mean, is he even really off the list?
>how does anyone know who's out there unless he or she submits something? he's
>probably laughing at the responses he actually garnered.
>
>something i've remarked whilst readingthe list is all the people who read
>catcher as a required reading assignment in the 11th grade. i'm sorry. i
>mean, it's a good thing that kids are being taught real literature, but i
>guess i have a different background than others. i didn't have that whole
>religious background thing; JDS is kindof my *god*, but i enjoy the fact that
>my parents are both fans of salinger (and not just CITR) and they "turned me
>on to him" at an early age. i just wonder what the differences are between
>people who find enlightenment in something they're *supposed* to as opposed
>to something they just find and feel.
>i'm not trying to be a sycophantic slag (the smiths!)
>thanks,
>Elizabeth
>ps--i hope i haven't angered anyone, i'm just spouting off after a long day
>of stupid exams...
>BUT: to all you Smiths fans out there...
> isn't it neat that Holden's middle name is Morrisey?
> even if they're spelled differently? :)
>-
>To remove yourself from the bananafish list, send the command:
>unsubscribe bananafish
>in the body of a message to "Majordomo@mass-usr.com".
>
-
To remove yourself from the bananafish list, send the command:
unsubscribe bananafish
in the body of a message to "Majordomo@mass-usr.com".
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Mon Oct 09 2000 - 14:59:01 GMT