Re: (no subject)
Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Mon, 26 Jan 1998 17:24:54 -0600
> Being an middle aged man (and losing hope of getting younger) I am
> asking persons to tell me why they like JDL, and keep the answers to
> less than, say five lines... My reasons:
> 1. The cadence of his prose
> 2. I want to be like Holden (??)
> 3. I want to be like Buddy (than makes a little more sense)
> 4. I would like to think that Zooey would like me.
Good challenge! I think, for me, it goes something like this (five lines,
sorry!):
1. Salinger's love, raw love, of language and of what he can do with it.
2. His creation of an unforgettable set of characters in stories and in the
novel
3. The almost mystical ability to make those characters of the type with
which so many of us feel an instant, sometimes lifelong, bond.
4. The temptation and mystery of what else Salinger has to offer (since all
his publications took place before I was old enough to read anything as
sophisticated as "Hapworth," which I believe was the only story published
in my lifetime).
5. The eternal search in my own life for people who can map, more or less
directly, onto various Salinger characters -- the wisdom of Buddy, the
smartass attitude of Zooey, and the sensitivity of Franny or Ginny (in
"Just Before the War with the Eskimos). Strangely, I don't think I'd ever
want to meet Seymour. Too much like meeting someone you love from afar;
you don't want to "ruin" things by actually meeting such a wise man.
--tim