Subject: RE: Order Me Around
From: Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Date: Thu Mar 23 2000 - 19:22:45 EST
At 4:01 PM -0800 on 3/23/2000, Robbie wrote:
> I love _A_Confederacy_of_Dunces_, but S:AI deserves to at least hold the
> number five spot above. It may not be the crowning glory of Salinger's
> career, nor is it necessarily ground shaking literature, but I thought
> it was deliciously fun to read.
I love "Seymour." It's like taking a bus trip with a slightly nutty
driver who takes short cuts and not-so-short-cuts and who can't
resist pointing out all the scenery. In that story, digression is
the point. The entire story is a non-linear thing, a digression unto
itself. I love the "I-don't-give-a-damn-what-you-think" sentences
and paragraphs that snake from page to page. I love the way the
storyteller himself (Buddy, I mean) can't decide what direction to
take. If all roads lead to Rome, Buddy seems determined to take us
along every one of them.
I can understand that it's not up there with favorites like "Esme,"
but as far as I feel, it's as close as we get to the author's head as
he uses his ventriloquist, Buddy Glass, as his mouthpiece.
--tim
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