universals
Scottie Bowman (bowman@mail.indigo.ie)
Wed, 15 Jul 1998 09:19:30 +0000
Sir Les Patterson (the Australian cultural attache) has pointed
out to me that one might take a different approach to the problem.
Instead of moving `out' to the universal, one could go in the
opposite direction `in' towards the particular.
Most works of fiction will contain some elements that refer
to universal experiences like death & taxes & others that are
more `local'. The greater the proportion of the latter, the more
corruptible the work. What is the balance in any given book ?
I can usually raise only a wan smile at most of Shakespeare's jokes
since they seem to me to depend on knowledge & expectations
that were readily accessible only to Londoners of the 1600s.
On the other hand, a book like the Education of Hyman Kaplan is
one of the funniest things I know - largely because I've seen lots
of films about New York & have listened to Kerry Shale's inspired
reading of the same book. Shakespeare's comedies would have died
a long time ago if the funny bits had been their sole raison d'etre.
Sadly, Hyman's survival will last only as long as people know about
German immigrants attending citizenship classes in New York in
the 1920s.
It seems to me that while Holden does express some of the rebellious
bewilderment with the world that young people have probably always
felt, an awful lot of its charm & humour is grounded in the
particular ambience of a priviledged part of America in the mid 20th
Century - which knowledge will wither away in the not very distant
future.
Scottie B.