Subject: Alt.Endings@APDFB
From: Will Hochman (hochman@southernct.edu)
Date: Mon Apr 30 2001 - 23:10:06 GMT
I tried Matt K's idea of giving APDFB to my students minus the last
paragraph. They had Muriel splitting, they had Seymour hitting
Muriel, and they had Muriel and Seyour fighting about how he spends
too much time with children. As I read the story aloud, I had some
odd impressions. I felt as thought the story was shallow. Maybe
I've come back to it too many times, maybe I see so much more of
Seymour from other stories, but this time APDFB seemed a bit worn at
the edges. My students didn't hate it which is actually a strong
form of liking, but as I read APDFB I wasn't having fun with
Salinger's prose the way I usually do. Yes, the dialog is crisp as
ever, and yes, some of his lines make me do deductive leaps that feel
like familiar dance steps. For example, Muriel's character is nailed
perfectly in one sentence in the second paragraph with "She was a
girl who for a ringing phone dropped exactly nothing." That kind of
poetry still gets to me. But as I reread the story, I didn't feel
the thrill of Salinger's short fiction. Maybe it's because I knew my
composition students would only enter this world briefly. We were
using the story to think about how they could write better endings
for their essays. Maybe it worked as a lesson--I'll be reading their
portfolios in a few weeks and hope to see progress--but I was
surprised at how I felt. I don't feel as empty thinking about TLM or
FEWLAS, but for some reason APDFB is not as strong as I used to
think. I kept wondering if any of the students would deviate and see
Seymour as a pedophile--I used to have an ongoing argument in grad
school about that with a friend who's sexual reading of Seymour still
haunts me. I also thought the ending of shooting himself is
something I've discouraged in too many young creative writers to feel
terrific about in APDDB, even though I know how it startles readers
and "began" Salinger's real Seymour stories. I don't know why I'm
having problems with the story except that maybe it's been a very
tough teaching year for me. I've switched schools and gave up tenure
and rank to do so--no more lit and creative writing classes for
me--I'm teaching only first-year composition--and maybe that has
dulled my blade a bit...dunno...anyone else reading APDFB?
Will
-- Will Hochman Assistant Professor of English & Composition Co-Coordinator Southern Connecticut State University 501 Crescent St, New Haven, CT 06515 203 392 5024- * Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message * UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
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