A new mesage on the fifth
JDHadden@aol.com
Sun, 05 Jul 1998 02:15:25 -0400 (EDT)
I apologize if it seems that I am intruding on this discussion (I've been on
this Bananafish list for only one day), but it seems to me that the true
writer (any writer,not only the well known) has, when writing, only one goal
in his endeavours, and that is to express his ideas in the best possible
manner. Hemingway, (the genius of his time) and Salinger (the genius of many
of our years as teenagers or young adults) have desired to express their ideas
and, in a broader sense, their ideals, to the reader and the public in
general, and despite the fact that they might have needed guidance from their
editors at some times to improve the specific mechanics of their writings, Max
Perkins for example, the ideas that they hoped to express have remained the
same and have been expressed successfully . For example, no matter how much
influence Max Perkins had, no matter how great an editor he was of the great
writers, from Hemingway to S. Fitzgerald, no matter that, he had no way of
changing what these writers had to say, even though he might have changed the
specific words that might appeal to an audience; the writer's ideas have
remained the same. I doubt, for Hemingway, the meaning of For Whom the Bell
Tolls changed, even though critical reviews might have suggested other
symbolism for the novel. In the case of Salinger, he may have chosen not to
even read the reviews of his published works, in that he was unconcerned with
what others thought of his work, that he knew what his works were about, and
he cared nothing for literary immortality, only for the satisfaction that his
ideas, were known.
(my first posting)
JD Hadden, 19, Emory University