long, beautiful HAY- AR

Scottie Bowman (rbowman@indigo.ie)
Mon, 12 Jul 1999 19:29:37 +0100 

    I have an idea Mirjam & Rick threw this ball initially 
    in my direction.  I was slightly reluctant to pick it up.   

    First, the beauty of women's hair makes a powerful appeal 
    to my own sensuality.  It's not exactly of fetishistic strength 
    but after registering a girl's face & its expression she wears 
    upon it, my own eyes certainly travel to her hair - long before 
    they proceed anywhere else.   Yes.  Yes...  Delicious.

    It would be all too easy & enjoyable, as you can see, 
    to embark on a Leporello list of : 'Blondes who loved me ...' 
    & so on.

    And second, I was reluctant to be drawn onto the old Freudian 
    roundabout where we start pontificating about the power 
    of the fetish to allay castration anxiety - & all that balls.  
    There may - or may not be - a valid unconscious basis to all 
    this but that seems to me to be only relevant to the situation 
    of Salinger talking to his therapist.  And not to whatever 
    symbolic or metaphorical meaning may apply in any particular 
    story of his.
 
    I'm not sufficiently au fait with the works to consider how 
    often Salinger concerns himself with the hair of his women 
    as compared with that of his men.  Before the recent posts, 
    I would have been able offhand to mention only Holden's 
    lightning flash.  For what it's worth, I always regarded this 
    as Holden's mark of distinction even, perhaps, of divine favour 
    & suffering.  Like a stigma. 

    Let me think some more about all this.  It's certainly more 
    my bag than the Fathers of the Church.  I have to admit it.

    Anyway, I can hear Paul banging on the studio door demanding 
    his own air time on this thrilling new topic.

    Scottie B.