Re: paedophilia?
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Tue, 30 Mar 1999 17:49:26 +1000
Scottie Bowman wrote:
> Afterwards, she said she felt as if she were being loved
> 'not so much for myself' as for what she had come to
> represent in Salinger's mind.
I recall hearing that Rita Hayworth divorced her prince because he was in
love with Gilda, the role she had played, and not her. Somehow it holds
very well with Salinger's dwelling in fiction more than reality - and I
like your idea of the `emotional paedophile' - it can't be denied that
Salinger's frequent use of children as the last word in purity and
innocence (except Booper - why does everyone always forget Booper (: ? ) is
in its own way slightly exploitative - vaguelly like those repugnant `Kids
Say the Darndest Things' type shows which rig cameras up before small
children and wait for them to say something endearing. I guess, in a way,
Salinger's books are his own `It's A Wise Child'.
There is, however, something very powerful about meeting someone who
appears to be one of your own characters. Even I was first attracted to my
boyfriend because he had a brother named Kane, had long blonde hair and a
check shirt and his favourite band was REM - just like a character in one
of my plays. I quickly learnt the difference between the character I had
constructed and The Character I Had Constructed as Salinger (or indeed Jim
(: ) might say.
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
@ THE INVERTED FOREST http://www.angelfire.com/pa/invertedforest