Re: Quiet list? there's always
Cheryl Cline (ccline@uclink4.berkeley.edu)
Wed, 01 Jul 1998 15:01:18 -0700
J J R wrote:
>
> SO WHAT if Salinger had been hospitalized at one time for some sort of
> psychological disturbance. Even if it were true, this tells us NOTHING
> about the meaning of Catcher. Stick to the text. Forget about the
> author.
>
> He seems to prefer it that way himself, actually.
>
> Jim
>
I just find it interesting to try to find out what an author was
thinking or going through when she or he wrote a particular passage or a
particular novel. Some authors let all their prejudices and experiences
fly, some don't. Fitzgerald, for one, was pretty damn transparent
sometimes.
I'm not trying to create a biography from the collected works of
Salinger-I just think it's interesting to find out whether any of the
events that happen in Catcher/Franny and Zooey happened to the author
himself. Franny and Holden manage to survive without running into the
woods. Salinger writes about Holden's desire to run into the woods, and
that's where Salinger is now-just simple facts. Sometimes it helps you
interpret the book, sometimes not.
This isn't strictly literary, but Gary Larson, who does the Far Side
comics, said that only one of the comics he's ever drawn was based on a
personal experience. It was a cartoon of a guy who hit his head while
using a pull-up bar attached to the door frame. So, like I said, I do
realize that you can't always just assume that what takes place in a
novel took place in the author's life. However, I've never read or
heard anything much at all about Salinger's life, and from Catcher and
Franny and Zooey, I believe that someone very close and important to him
died, and that Salinger has a real problem with the many irritating
aspects of human behavior, to the point that people think something's
wrong with him.
I could be wrong.
Cheryl