RE: Tao
Sean Draine (seandr@Exchange.Microsoft.com)
Wed, 31 Mar 1999 17:50:36 -0800
I think of a humanitarian as someone like Ghandi or Mother Theresa, who work
for the well-being and rights of the suffering at whatever expense to
themselves. I don't know what Salinger has done to earn that badge. He
certainly will not win the Nobel Peace prize for secluding himself in
Cornish and burning his writings before anyone has a chance to read them.
However, I think your reactions to his writing point to him as being a great
artist, and I fully agree. One of my favorite Salinger gems is the first
paragraph of Franny, in which he describes a pack of college boys waiting on
the train platform for their weekend dates. When I last read it, I was high
above the Atlantic, laughing aloud, on a 747 to Italy. His writing is not
just read but experienced.
Salinger wouldn't be the first great artist to suffer from a touch of
narcicism.
-Sean
-----Original Message-----
From: John Touzios [mailto:JTouzios@mwumail.midwestern.edu]
Sent: Wednesday, March 31, 1999 4:51 PM
To: bananafish@lists.nyu.edu
Subject: Tao
Okay, I'll stand by and watch a debate unfold re: Salinger and narcicism.
But
how about having a parallel debate re: Salinger the humanitarian? I'll
begin
it. "Uncle Wiggly" depicts a cruel woman in a way that would make Jane
Austen
proud. Her cruelties stem from her pain, and her only mode of finding peace
is in facing that life she's fighting so hard.
And can any of you read the last paragraph of "For Esme with love and
squalor" without feeling so much hope it makes you burst?
John Touzios
"Man the most complex, intricate and delicately constructed
machine of all creation, is the one with which the osteopath
must become familiar." A.T. Still
"Everyone seems to know how useful it is to be useful.
No one seems to know how useful it is to be useless."
Chuang Tzu