real Glass?
Mattis Fishman (mattis@argos.argoscomp.com)
Wed, 24 Mar 1999 14:37:49 -0500 (EST)
Hello all,
It seems that we have a nice group of new list members so
let me add my welcome to those already offered.
John T. asks whether the Glass family is real, and later
whether Franny is a true story. It is so tempting to reply
with a "Yes, Virginia.." parody, since the question first
struck me a as cute one. After all, these are published as
works of fiction, and asking whether they are true sounds vaguely
like asking if they could be true, are they true to life, or
are the viewpoints presented realistic. Yet persisting in
calling this "true", which I suspected (had he found his shift key)
should have been written "True", had a slight suggestion of
green ink (for those newcomers, a recent euphemism for self-indulgent
writing).
I refrained from the sarcastic reply for two reasons. First,
because I thought our new Jim or his latest admirer would beat me to it.
But my real reason was out of respect. I really liked the way
John called attention to the way Salinger is able to work the
magic of making a treacherous subject, namely religious "enlightenment",
interesting, of being pious without (usually) being preachy.
Looking back over your posts, John, I see that you are trying to
connect the issue of "truth" with a concept of "zen story",
Franny's nausea, and a dream, all of which seem to point away from
the simple question of whether the Glass family stories are based
upon true events, so I am still unsure of your question. Perhaps you
would care to rephrase it in a more specific way?
all the best,
Mattis