Subject: Re: Article on Salinger
From: Stephen Foskett (sfoskett@cassatt.Mass-USR.COM)
Date: Mon Mar 10 1997 - 10:52:13 GMT
Do you have a copy of this article you could send me? If not, perhaps
more information at least? I'm trying to update the "Articles" section
of the Bananafish page.
Thanks,
Stephen
Paul Gauthier wrote:
>
> There was a nice article in my St. Louis Post-Dispatch today on J.D.
> Salinger, and the waiting game for book publication of "Hapworth 16,
> 1924." I should say, I guess, that it was originally published in the
> Milwaukee Journal Sentinel in case anyone wants to look for it. Anyhow,
> our own Will Hochman and Stephen Foskett receive some nice publicity, and
> sparked a few questions that might get us back (at least peripherally) to
> dicussing J.D. Salinger. So here goes:
>
> 1) Will is at work on a new book--_Saliger's Readers_. Has Will said
> anything about what the book's thesis entails? If not, will you give us
> an advance preview? I'm not certain where you are heading with the
> topic; is it a general overview on how Salinger's readers vary from the
> readers of other authors? Are you dealing with anything like how
> Salinger's reader would compare with, say, Virgina Woolf's common reader?
> Or, do you delve into something like reader response theory?
>
> 2) Stephen Foskett, of course, named this forum after "A Perfect Day for
> Bananafish." Since I've been on here, at least, there hasn't been a
> great deal of discussion on this story. If it's been done to death
> (could it be, though?), just ignore me. Otherwise, I'm curious what
> people make of Sybil claiming to see a banafish. Does anyone read this
> scene as a sign that Sybil may already be moving into the adult world of
> reality? She is, after all, contrasted with the other, less egocentric
> girl (Sharon?) who does not poke dogs with stick or want Seymour to push
> other kids off the piano seat. Could Seymour's sadness at witnessing
> such a transition be part of what leads him to suicide? And what do
> people make of the feet in "Bananfish"? Sybil says something like "hey!"
> when Seymour kisses her feet, and then Seymour acts a little possessive
> of his own feet in the elevator moments later. Any connection there?
> Any theories?
>
> 3) (Mostly a Will question) Did you position yourself in the marketplace
> mostly as a Salinger scholar? If so, how much of a market did you find
> for one? Do you feel it was more advantageous to market yourself as a
> (hmm... what term to use without upsetting the group) minor-major or
> major-minor(?) author, than as a major author (Joyce, Woolf, Faulkner
> etc.,)? Or, does everything really still boil down to the same thing:
> publications, letters of rec., ability to teach a range of courses,
> etc.,?
>
> I'll be interested in everyone's thoughts.
>
> Paul Gauthier
> gauthier@slu.edu
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--
Stephen Foskett sfoskett@mass-usr.com
U.S. Robotics, Massachusetts R&D Lab
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