Re: I'm still here
Brendan McKennedy (suburbantourist@hotmail.com)
Sun, 18 Jan 1998 20:39:37 -0800 (PST)
A few things to Neil:
First, thank you for telling me about "Beatrice". I don't know how to
say it without it sounding sarcastic, but you have cleared up a very
trivial Salinger matter that has bugged me immeasurably for a long time.
On the other hand, I suppose I could have just looked up the family tree
on the Bananafish homepage (if it's on there). But thank you. You also
wrote:
I enjoy the list a great deal, but don't feel the
>need to comment that much (or perhaps it's more that I feel I lack the
>intellectual ability to make a useful comment).
>
...
>I should point out that although I may not "read
>and run" (I joined this list didn't I), I am most definitely "an
amateur
>reader" so if my reading of Salinger is not very insightful I'm sorry,
>but heh, I know how much I love those books.
>
I'm an amateur reader too, which is to say, I'm not an English
professor, I've never published any criticism, and I don't have any
plans to--in fact, I have plans NOT to (which admittly shouldn't be too
difficult a resolution). No offense to all the published critics out
there.
I don't think your level of critical experience has anything to do with
your ability to contribute incredibly intelligent and insightful
thoughts. I hope to hear from you again in the future.
That said, I'd like to shoot down your ideas now.
>Whereas children feel an integral part of the world, what they
>do in it is important, it's their world and they are in control of it.
>THEY KNOW.
I have to disagree. I do agree with that quote above, but I disagree
with the implied converse to that, which is that adults don't feel an
integral part of their world, don't think what they do is important, and
perhaps feel TOO much in control of their world.
Was it Emerson (I can feel you all cringing at my lack of knowledge) who
said "The world is too much with us"?
I think that once you learn how small you are, how no matter what you do
you it doesn't change the fact that you die at the end, and yet be able
to still make moral decisions, you are in a good position to live. Not
apathetic, but not terribly idealist. Maybe I've been reading some
Sartre lately, though.
Brendan
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