Graham describes very vividly the feeling some of us have when we first encounter those writers who are to become central to our efforts. It's a kind of terribly urgent, if poignant, need to write `that' ourselves. My first smart-ass impulse was to advise him to forget Salinger & Mamet & DeLilo & Shakespeare & go & learn to write like Graham. And, indeed, it often seems as if people with very idiosyncratic styles like Hemingway or Salinger must have had that self-directed instinct in them from the start. Of course, they didn't. In fact, I suspect the impulse to imitate plays a big part in the formation of most artists. Over on the Hemingway list, as Adam will know (Adam whom I thank for his kind & supportive words), there has recently been a discussion whether or not Hemingway had the practice of actually copying out passages from certain writers in order to absorb - by a kind of magical osmosis -their techniques. In Ernest's case, we have a fair idea of who his models were. As a newcomer, I apologise for raising again what must be a very tired, ancient hare on this list. But - ignoring, if one can, whatever influences there may have been as regards attitude & content - who were the people whose rythms, style, word-choice & so on broke Salinger's heart, the way he breaks Graham's ? Scottie B.