Subject: Re: wierdness
From: Will Hochman (hochman@southernct.edu)
Date: Sat Jun 09 2001 - 00:23:32 GMT
I'm the lucky owner of two first edition paperback catchers...The Red
in the book's background is a brighter red than in later editions...I
don't know about prices but the one Tim mentioned sounded reasonable
to me...I think it's interesting that Salinger wanted to tone down
his book covers and criticism because I'm thinking he was thinking
that the commercialism and hype of books distracted readers from the
story too much for Salinger's liking...I think he knew that marketing
his writing could take away more than it was worth. Salinger is a
great writer because his work resists singular interpretation and
marketing and crticism tend to make interpretations more rigid.
Salinger's plain cover approach makes "You can't tell a book by its
cover" into a koan for readers to NOT tell a book by its
cover--Salinger had hoped to avoid those "professional"
interpretations--the irony is that desire to foreground the text and
remove his authorial presence did little deter criticis--Salinger's
withdrawal from public life may have become the defacto marketing
strategy, despite his desire for no marketing.
Saturday morning critical cartoons, will
-- Will Hochman Assistant Professor of English & Composition Co-Coordinator Southern Connecticut State University 501 Crescent St, New Haven, CT 06515 203 392 5024 http://www.southernct.edu/~hochman/willz.html- * Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message * UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
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