entranced writing
Scottie Bowman (rbowman@indigo.ie)
Tue, 12 Jan 1999 08:43:56 +0000
'...Others were about: writers of the past (JDS's loves),
JDS's inspirations (both religious and personal), JDS's
unconscious Self becoming conscious, even the Muse
or daemon or whatever you want to call it. Salinger,
take my word for it, if you don't already agree, is as
astonished/puzzled/moved to tears/bewildered by things
in his own writings as we the readers of it are...'
Why *is* there this apparent need to play down the role
that intelligence, persistence & deliberation play in
the act of writing ? One might just as well claim that
also present were his grandmother's genes for verbal facility,
the quality of the soup he ate for lunch, the television
show he watched the previous night....
I think I know why. Many readers wish to be writers.
They try it - & discover that it's a much harder, lonelier
business than they suspected. It's comforting then
to see those who *have* succeeded as human ouija
boards who simply sat in a quiet room, opened themselves
to the wisdom of the race, said a few Vedic prayers &
waited for the hands to start their automatic typing.
I'm pretty sure the only way Salinger has been surprised
by his own writing is in wide variety of loopy interpretations
& projections some of his fans have contrived for their
own satisfaction.
Scottie B.