Subject: Re: Certainly Nuns
From: Cecilia Baader (ceciliabaader@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Jan 12 2002 - 22:43:39 GMT
--- Will Hochman <hochman@southernct.edu> wrote:
> >
> >I think it's a mistake to try to link things literary to biographies.
> >
> >Regards,
> >Cecilia.
> >
> Cecilia, I think it depends on what it is and how it's done. In this
> particular case, I'm not aware of any direct contact Salinger might
> have had with nuns, so I think the probable biographical link to
> Sister Irma or the nuns in Catcher is obscure.
That was, of course, my meaning. I should have said, "always" since
everybody wants to dig into biographies these days to find meaning or
reasons for various choices. In this case, I think there's enough
evidence in the text to stay away from outside sources.
> I once studied with a scholar who read everything Virginia Woolf
> read. It gave him a very strong critical position.
I think that one needs to make a differentiation, then, between biography
and bibliography. Certainly a familiarity with everything that someone
has read will put one at an advantage in understanding their work, but
reading their biography can often put one at a disadvantage -- one becomes
so dazzled by the life that one becomes blind to the clues that are on the
page. That, dearest will, was my only point.
And Balzac. May I in turn give you something? Listen to the show NPR did
on caffeine and Balzac. If I remember correctly, they read aloud a
passage by Balzac on why he so loved coffee. I'd have to agree.
http://www.npr.org/programs/wesat/features/2001/coffee/010908.caffeine.html
Bon appetit.
Regards,
Cecilia.
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