Subject: Catcher, published in 1951, turns 51 today.
From: Raley, Amber (araley@agnesscott.edu)
Date: Tue Jul 16 2002 - 11:22:24 EDT
Bananafish,
I know we've discussed anniversaries before. I caught this on The Writers
Almanac and thought the 1945 instance was an interesting coincidence. I
don't know if this has been brought up before. I hardly think it could have
been intentional, but one never knows about these things.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
The Writer's Almanac(r), a daily program of poetry and history hosted by
Garrison Keillor, can be heard each day on public radio stations throughout
the country. Each day's program is about five minutes long-check your local
radio listings for the station and time in your area. An entire year of
almanac entries is available.
The Writer's Almanac for July 15 - July 21
TUESDAY, 16 JULY 2002
Listen (RealAudio) | How to listen
Poem: "How Lies Grow," by Maxine Chernoff from Leap Year Day: New & Selected
Poems (Another Chicago Press).
How Lies Grow
The first time I lied to my baby, I told him that it was his face on the
baby food jar. The second time I lied to my baby, I told him that he
was the best baby in the world, that I hoped he'd never leave me. Of
course I want him to leave me someday. I don't want him to become
one of those fat shadows who live in their mother's houses watching
game shows all day. The third time I lied to my baby I said, "Isn't she
nice?" of the woman who'd caressed him in his carriage. She was old
and ugly and had a disease. The fourth time I lied to my baby, I told
him the truth, I thought. I told him how he'd have to leave me some-
day or risk becoming a man in a bow tie who eats macaroni on Fri-
days. I told him it was for the best, but then I thought, I want him to
live with me forever. Someday he'll leave me: then what will I do?
It's the birthday of novelist Anita Brookner, born in London, England
(1928). Many of her early novels, including the Booker Prize winning Hotel
du Lac (1984), were about young women who yearn for romance and fulfillment.
Brookner received a Ph.D. in art history and taught the subject at the
University of Reading from 1959 to 1964. In 1967, she became the first woman
to be named Slade Professor of Art at Cambridge University. She published
several works in her field, including The Genius of the Future: Studies in
French Art Criticism (1971), and Greuze: The Rise and Fall of an Eighteenth
Century Phenomenon (1972). In 1981, she published her first novel, the
loosely autobiographical A Start in Life, in which the heroine constantly
yearns for "her adventure, the one that was to turn her life into
literature."
It's the birthday of writer Kathleen (Thompson) Norris, born in San
Francisco, California (1880), who was one of the most successful and popular
novelists of her time, selling more than ten million copies of her books.
Her stories usually centered around conflicts between the haves and the
have-nots, emphasizing what she called "the fearful power of money upon
human lives." Some of her titles include The Beloved Woman (1921), The
Foolish Virgin (1928), Miss Harriet Townshend (1955), and Through a Glass
Darkly (1957). Over fifty years, she wrote eighty-one novels, two
autobiographies, a play, dozens of short stories, poems, and magazine
articles, and in the 1940s, a soap opera radio serial. She said: "Life is
easier than you'd think; all that is necessary is to accept the impossible,
do without the indispensable, and bear the intolerable."
It's the birthday of explorer and writer Roald Amundsen, born in Borge,
Norway (1872). For hundreds of years, explorers had been looking for a
northern water route connecting the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific. In 1903,
Amundsen and his crew of six became the first men to make a ship voyage
through the Northwest Passage. His account of the voyage, North West
Passage, was published in 1908. Amundsen was preparing to be the first to
reach the North Pole when he heard that Robert E. Peary had beat him to it,
so he decided to go south instead. He told no one but his brother, in order
to beat the rival expedition of Robert F. Scott. Amundsen, four men, four
sleds, and fifty-two dogs reached the South Pole on December Fourteenth,
1911, beating Scott by more than a month.
It's the birthday of religious leader and writer Mary Baker Eddy, born in
Bow, New Hampshire (1821). From a young age, she suffered from a spinal
ailment and spent much of her life preoccupied by issues of health. In 1862,
Baker entered a sanitarium, where she met Phineas P. Quimby, a man who
believed in a "science of health" achieved by direct mental healing that had
religious overtones. Baker was seemingly cured, but her suffering recurred
after Quimby's death. In 1866, she fell on the ice and her suffering
increased. She turned to the New Testament and was suddenly healed, which
led her to the discover what she later called Christian Science, or the
"superiority of spiritual over physical power." In 1875, she set down her
principles in a voluminous work called Science and Health, and in 1876
founded the Christian Science Association.
In 1951 on this day, The Catcher in the Rye was published. This novel, which
practically defines the coming-of-age genre, written by reclusive author
J.D. Salinger, is the story of a sensitive young man, Holden Caulfield,
adrift in New York City a few days before Christmas vacation. It has sold
millions of copies, and is still one of the most widely-read books in the
United States.
In 1945 on this day, the first atomic bomb was exploded at 5:30 a.m., one
hundred twenty miles south of Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Be well, do good work, and keep in touch.(r)
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
And now on a more personal note I would like to ask for some advice from our
resident academics (you know who you are). The fine folks on this list were
very helpful in helping me choose an undergraduate institution back in 1998
and now it is time to go to graduate school. Although my field of study is
no longer English, I wondered if some of you who have taught at a few
schools can attest to the 'atmosphere' at your current and/or past
universities. After having a wonderful four years at a school that felt
more like home than my mother's house ever did I'm more than a little
frightened to leave my tiny pond for open waters and destinations unknown.
Any responses appreciated,
Swimmingly,
Amber
-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Tue Sep 17 2002 - 16:27:01 EDT