Re: THE INVERTED FOREST

WILL HOCHMAN (hochman@uscolo.edu)
Sat, 25 Jul 1998 09:33:41 -0600 (MDT) 

Patrick seems to align pretty much with what I hope for students...I agree
completely that it doesn't matter what we read but how we read...and mr.
salinger may indeed throw in some of what patick calls "passion" as well.  

I believe that reading what really speaks to you is the way to choose what
to read.  Yeah, it's important to expose readers to new writers and
explain why they may appear worthless but aren't, but in the end, when
reader and page collide, it's best for their to be plenty of love, will

On Sat, 25 Jul 1998, patrick flaherty wrote:

> 
> -----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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> 
> 
>