Re: yellow peril


Subject: Re: yellow peril
From: Cecilia Baader (ceciliabaader@yahoo.com)
Date: Thu May 24 2001 - 22:56:18 GMT


--- Scottie Bowman <rbowman@indigo.ie> wrote:
 
> I can think of at least two alternatives:
> 1) Salinger is even less original & more of a plagiarist than
> many trusting souls feared.

No, I think that Zack's fine post has another implication entirely.
(Zack, though I'd love to respond to this tonight, I fear that sheer
tiredness shall get me very soon.)

It's a typical feet of clay-type thing. The narrator is remembering
what most people would deem a highly original Laughing Man, but if
anyone cares to look more closely, it appears to be variations upon
something already done before.

I think that if you took the time to look at more than just THE SHADOW
of the 1930s and LAUGHING BOY, you'll find that more of the Chief's
stories have their basis in other cultural references. Tom Mix and
friends are given as clues, so we can ballpark (ha) the date when this
is supposed to take place. I think the Chief amused a busload of boys
by putting his own spin on things that he was exposed to every day.
Perhaps he was reading LAUGHING BOY and used it to form the basis of The
Laughing Man narrative. There's a supposed F. Scott Fitzgerald link
(and who was a more popular magazine writer than he at that time?) that
Zack didn't mention (though I know he's aware of it), and probably
countless others. I feel sure that if one paged through comic books or
listened to enough radio serials at that time, one would eventually come
across a reference to a dwarf or a lovely Eurasian girl or whatever
other symbol comes up in the Laughing Man narrative.

No, not a plagiarist. Perhaps just a look at what cultural reference
might be if first put through a vise.

I'm going to bed.

Regards,
Cecilia.
-
* Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message
* UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH



This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Mon Jun 25 2001 - 13:56:09 GMT