just the two of us on the Fourth
Scottie Bowman (bowman@mail.indigo.ie)
Sat, 04 Jul 1998 13:16:42 +0000
Being acquainted with neither Mr Stipe nor his work I don't
really know what to make of the story about his taking on board
some groupie's mishearing of his words. It sounds like the kind
of jape these chaps sometimes use to indulge their more gullible
fans.
However that may be, can you, Camille, in all sincerity envisage
Salinger in some similar situation saying to his editor in
the New Yorker: `The Pitcher full of Cry, eh ? By golly that's much
better, old buddy. That's the one we'll use....' ? Or Hemingway
agreeing that A Farewell to Arms would be more touching with
a bouncing baby & a lump-in-the-throat ending ?
I can't think of any literary anecdote where any writer worth a damn
accepted the feedback of his readers or editors - except perhaps
where there was some problem about getting past censors or making
it more marketable in Poughkeepsie. The only texts these chaps
regard as sacred are the ones they wrote.
I realise things are more chummy down where the coolabahs grow
but the democratic principle has no place in art. If you're a
serious writer you're going to have to accept your membership of
the loneliest elite in the world & just get on with it. No one ever
wrote anything worthwhile with a bunch of nignogs looking over
his shoulder.
Scottie B.