Re: guess who & when

I tend to lean toward what John G. is saying, but I think it's not that
far off from what you're saying, esp. if you like the "Dear Tyger"
letter. It's not so much thinking about the people who pick up the
publications and what they like (that's the publishers' job to worry
about), but the writer writing for himself as a reader. I think most
people consider Hapworth to be a failure of artistic taste because
Salinger was indulging himself as a writer, not a reader.

I'd be happy if Salinger published "Ocean Full of Bowling Balls" with
some revision. It's flawed but it's still a very good story and fills
in a lot of details about Holden's family. People would eat it up.

Jim

Kim Johnson wrote:

>a few random responses:
>
>the entire prologue of 'seymour: an introduction', up
>through the lighting of the murad, is about seymour's
>suicide.
>
>i can't imagine any real writer giving much worry
>about his reader. espcially any poet. in reading the
>letters, diaries and essays of writers, i don't recall
>any concerns expresssed about the needs of the reader
>in the composition of the creative work. the only
>time i see that is in those deplorable 'how to write'
>books.
>
>although i think 'hapworth' displays a failure in
>artistic taste, i certainly believe salinger should
>continue to follow seymour's advice in the 'dear old
>tyger' letter. that letter pretty wells sums it up.
>(personally, i find 'seymour: an intro' thrilling.)
>
>as for salinger not destroying his work (even though
>it's written only for his own pleasure): remember, in
>'zooey' there's the reference to poor yorick and an
>honorable skull. on some level, salinger does care
>about a future judgment of his work. (after all, he
>is a writer.) i think he might even feel vindicated
>by its publication. a sort of 'i told you so': yes,
>i've been writing all these years, and yes, it's
>pretty damn good.
>
>but who really knows....
>
>kim
>
>
>

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Received on Mon Jan 27 14:57:34 2003