The number thing...


Subject: The number thing...
DK3283@aol.com
Date: Sat Jun 22 2002 - 14:40:47 EDT


Will,
         Because of my recent discovery of this list I have started
re-reading "Catcher". In one passage he talks about playing tennis with Jane
in the morning, and golf with her in the afternoon. "She lost eight balls, I
remember. Eight." Now, I don't know if that refers to the number of monks
Basho had at his last seminar, but like you, I don't find any particular
significance to it, though like another poster, I do believe number choices
do have some subconscious meaning. But, by very definition, I don't
think--in this case anyway--he meant anything else.
         As far as the "bible in the pocket" analogy you made, I thought that
was very good. I wasn't trying to imply that JDS created these psychopaths,
but sometimes I wonder why so many seem to reference him. I suppose I can
take some solace in the fact that they never seem to mention Seymour or
Franny.
         Oh, Holden mentions "A Farewell to Arms" as being recommended to him
by D.B. But, he felt the protagonist phony. He, however, was "crazy" about
"Gatsby".
         On another wild segue, about my re-reading JDS, Doris Lessing made a
cogent point about re-reading novels. She felt that since there was so much
valuable fiction out there, re-reading anything was doing yourself a
disservice. Even if you were to get new layers of meaning by re-reading a
novel, it wouldn't compare to the insights you would receive reading a new
work. An interesting point, but one that, nonetheless, hasn't stopped me
from picking up "Catcher" for about the 50 millionth time now...
                                                                         
respectfully, robert

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