Re: universals
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Thu, 16 Jul 1998 11:16:10 +1000
Very well said - I agree with 99% of this (and am quite impressed you know
who Sir Les Patterson is (: ) But I still do think that yes, while the
1950's ambience is a large part of TCIR it's not an integral part. Holden's
dilemna's could have happened pretty much anywhere in history - they were
disgusted about commercialism way back in the Roman Empire, remember. I'm
reminded of a biographical movie I once saw - I can't remember who it was
about, just that it was set in the 19th Century but they had the characters
leaving on aeroplanes. Sounds very odd, I know, but in the context of the
movie you didn't even question it, because no matter where the story was
set, its basic portents remained the same. I think it's a little like
Shakespeare - directors place his plays in places he himself couldn't have
imagined in his wildest dreams but it does not alter the basic human nature
which makes it (oh no, here comes that dreaded word) - universal.
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE
www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
THE INVERTED FOREST
www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest
> 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.