Subject: Article on Salinger
From: Paul Gauthier (gauthier@SLU.EDU)
Date: Wed Jan 29 1997 - 01:36:27 GMT
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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