Re: THE INVERTED FOREST
patrick flaherty (pfkw@email.msn.com)
Sat, 25 Jul 1998 01:32:40 -0400
-----Original Message-----
From: J J R <jrovira@juno.com>
To: bananafish@lists.nyu.edu <bananafish@lists.nyu.edu>
Date: Friday, July 24, 1998 5:14 PM
Subject: Re: THE INVERTED FOREST
><<I know this doesn't mean a darn thing, but my current favorite short
>story
>writers, besides JD, are Sarah Orne Jewett and Sherwood Anderson. Also,
>if
>I was asked to make a list of ten, Charles Bukowski would definately
>have a
>spot on mine. Anyone care to fight?
>
>Patrick>>
>
>James Joyce John Cheever Flannery O'Connor Raymond Carver Anton Chekov
>and yeah, Salinger, and there's more. Much more. Top Freaking Ten? No
>way :)
>
>Jim
I suppose I should say, "Why the hell not?" But, I won't. Does it really
matter who "the best" writers are? Just because some PhD from Harvard or
wherever says that X is a great book doesn't mean that I'll like it. I may
not even be able to finish it. Does that matter? In my opinion, literature
is not something to be ranked. The reading of literature is something to be
done for pleasure. If I read Charles Bukowski and his words really move me
and influence my perception of this world, is that any different than an ivy
league prof reading Shakespeare? I could go on, but I won't. I'd rather be
reading than trying to articulate an idea to a mailing list that I feel
quite a stranger to. It seems to me that many of you who post regularly on
this list have turned reading into some kind of a hobby. What bothers me is
the way you wage these silly intellectual wars over things that really don't
matter much. I'm a graduate of a small state college in New Hampshire. I
studied literature. I was taught to enjoy and appreciate what I read. I
was taught to engage myself in the words I read. I am now a full time
bartender and a part time grad school student. I've discovered that it
really doesn't matter what I read as long as I read with passion. The
stories have all been told. It's up to us, as readers, to decide who we want
to tell us "their version" of the story. Does it matter if I choose Charles
Bukowski or anyone, for that matter. I don't know--I'm rambling and
probably not making much sense. I guess my point is that I am very upset
with this list. I was hoping to actually read and respond to each others'
experiences READING Salinger's work. I didn't think I would be subject to
the shallow intellectual drivel that makes up most of this list. I just
don't get the point of spending days arguing over the word universal.
Reading is so much more than that.
"Nobody who's really using his ego, his real ego, has any time for any
goddam hobbies."
you know who.
>
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