Re: Antolini: Life Imprisonment

the.tourist@excite.com
Tue, 23 Feb 1999 11:33:21 -0800 (PST) 

David wrote:

> The whole cohesiveness of the Glass saga has a
> sort of continuity that is much more impressive
> than Holden's ranting about being alienated.

I have to disagree. While certain Glass stories--most notably "Raise High",
"A Perfect Day", and "Down at the Dinghy" are by themselves entertaining and
engaging, the majority of Glass pieces are lacking.  As supplements to the
smaller stories--deeper, longer dives into the Glass history--they are
indeed lovely and well-written.  But by themselves...well, Seymour: An
Introduction, for instance, was hardly an introduction to Seymour.  I never
would have got through it were it not for my *true* introduction to Seymour
via "A Perfect Day".  By itself "S:AI" is cliquish, didactic, and very
tiresome.  I feel the same way about "Zooey".

Most of this has to do with the weight of Buddy's presence in the narration.
The most apparent he is, the purpler the prose grows.

Holden's presence, however--for whatever reasons--seems a lot more engaging
to me.  He seems a lot less educated, a lot more accessible, I don't know.
How can you explain why you relate to someone?  Buddy reads like a sort of
authority to me, maybe a younger Spencer--or more closely, Antolini.

Catcher is also a well-contained, entertaining and yet amazingly layered
piece that is enlightening without being didactic.  The Glass saga as a
"composite novel" is unbalanced, inconsistent in voice and characterization,
scattered, and requires a bit too much effort from the reader than I'm
willing to give.  I sort of consider the longer Glass pieces as experiments
in characterization and style that fail about as often as they can succeed.


At least I can say that when they succeed, it brings tears to the eyes and
light to the spirit.

I do like the Glass stories very much, I guess you wouldn't know it from
this post--but I do feel that Catcher is far superior.  I can see how others
can relate better to the Glass stories and the Glasses than to Catcher and
Holden (not really), and I know this list isn't a relay race between the
Glasses and the Caulfields, but such a competition seems like a good way to
drag Salinger discussion out of folks, including myself.

--Brendan





_______________________________________________________
Get your free, private email at http://mail.excite.com/