re: hunting hat
WILL HOCHMAN (hochman@uscolo.edu)
Wed, 11 Mar 1998 08:16:22 -0700 (MST)
I've been reading "The Inverted Forest" and will present "J.D. Salinger's
'Musifesto': Class Reversal and Creativity in the 'The Inverted Forest'"
at a scholarly conference on thursday so beware, this is section man
stuff...but in addition to seeing Ray Ford as a poet-antecedant to
Seymour, there's also a good deal in the story about hats...here's a
quote:
"a man just can't reach the kind of poetry Fords reaching and still keep
intact the normal male ability to spot a fine hat-straightener"
In this story, catcher, and some unpublished work, salinger seems to link
how a hat is postioned on one's head to sensibilities of awareness...
Holden's hat, as we know is turned around (as holden is?) and in the case
of TIF, Ray Ford's inability to recognize how hats are worn signals his
withdrawal into an inverted forest where imagination is all that matters.
Personally, I love hats and always consider them not just clothing, but
part of my tude, will