Re: alien worlds

the.tourist@excite.com
Mon, 22 Feb 1999 21:14:04 -0800 (PST)

Liz wrote:

> Many American teenagers would feel this way, even > though it is very
absurd, becuase they have no   > interest in anything that is different or
does 
> not pertain to them and their world. In this way
> Matt's post is sadly true. 

I, for one, was a teenager once.  Not too long ago, either.  During those
years, I felt kind of lonely, very cynical, pretty disenchanted with
authority and most of the adult world, and so on.  Consequently, I was a lot
more interested in finding books that seemed to be about me.  Not because I
was necessarily very narcissistic--at least not more than most lonely,
cynical teenagers--but only because I happened at that time to be searching
for myself, looking for my place in the world, etc.  The books I found I
could relate to, particularly Catcher, eventually--when I was 
*ready*--opened up to me the whole of the literary world.

I don't think teenagers, twentysomethings, thirtysomethings, go as far as
you like, can really be called ignorant for a temporary blindness to
anything too far off from the part of themselves that they feel they need to
develop at that moment.

What is literature *for*, anyway?

I'll leave that question open-ended, and hope that it starts a great fight.

--Brendan




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