Subject: Eudora Welty
From: Will Hochman (hochman@southernct.edu)
Date: Sat Jul 28 2001 - 08:14:36 GMT
Sure enough, Eudora Welty saw Salinger as the real deal calling him
"a very serious artist" in her review of 9 Stories called "Threads of
Innocence." Here's a quote I considered putting into my afterward in
Letters To Salinger: "What this reader loves about Mr.Salinger's
stories is that they honor what is unique and precious in each person
on the earth." I'm not gonna use it though...can't get away with
"unique" and "precious" anymore...those two words strike me as too
soft and pretty cliched...but I did say I remembered that she admired
Salinger and rereading this review makes me see how clearly she loved
him. Critics don't write well about love and sometimes it takes
someone with Welty's creative juice to do Salinger justice. Please
don't misunderstand. I'm a critic and love criticism...I'm reading
it on a Saturday Night (sung to a Grateful Dead tune in my head)(yes,
that pun was intended!)...it just that sometimes, when great writers
review other great writers, I feel lucky to be within earshot and
Welty proves that to me tonight. Sweet Banaafish and spicy alike,
here's the nut from the review this sometimes poet offers you: "They
all pertain to the lack of something in the world and it might be
said that what Mr. Salinger has written about so far is the the
absence of love. Owing to that absence comes the spoilation of
innocence or else the triumph in death of innocence over the outrage
and corruption that lie in wait for it."
I think it's time to be quiet now, will
-- Will Hochman Assistant Professor of English Southern Connecticut State University 501 Crescent St, New Haven, CT 06515 203 392 5024
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