Subject: Re: Questions from bryanrealica@hotmail.com
From: Bryan Realica (bryanrealica@hotmail.com)
Date: Wed May 08 2002 - 01:15:16 EDT
hey, anyone of you, just wanna ask. what is that blood holden's talkintg
about when he got out of that bar after drinking and made a phone call to
sally in the middle of the night. how did he got that blood in his stomach
and all that pain if there really is. is it figurative or somethig? anybody
can answer. please!!! i just wanna know. thanks..
>From: Jim Rovira <jrovira@drew.edu>
>Reply-To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
>To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
>Subject: Re: Reference to JDS by Paul Thomas Anderson
>Date: Tue, 07 May 2002 23:48:04 -0400
>
>First off, Robbie, thanks for clearing that up :)
>
>Next, will, many argue (I know you know this :) ) that even the
>standards of "good craft" are inherently gender and class biased -- that
>what we consider "Good writing" is simply the discourse of an elite
>community. So being "white male" is still significant. The only time I
>read white males is in lit classes that cover pre-1950 writing, and the
>closer to the 19th century you get, the more women writers are included.
>
>At my University, a class about the history of terrorism saw 60 people
>sign up (where the average class size is around 15). Another class
>covering Arabic women writers was remarkably popular as well.
>
>It's just the times. I don't think Salinger is going to go away...if HS
>students still get into him, they're not going to let him go away :).
>Once the white male becomes a matter of nostalgia (as a member of the
>ruling elite), people will dig up Salinger before they dig up many
>others...
>
>That's not to take away from what you're saying too, though, just to add
>to it.
>
>Jim
>
>Will Hochman wrote:
> >
> > The question of Salinger's status among college English professors
> > may have less to do with gender and skin color than the fact that he
> > initially appeals to young folks with Catcher. I can easily argue the
> > literary merits of Catcher based on language, structure, character
> > development, narration, etc but I suspect that Salinger is devalued
> > in higher education because Catcher is consider a middle school or
> > high school text. Too bad, it's really a novel that reveals more and
> > more with the type of exegesis and research college thinkers
> > sometimes do. However, Micaela's question still lingers and I would
> > argue that Salinger's ability as a short story writer is tops (or at
> > least in the company of Flannery O'Connor and Ray Carver) and that
> > his craft as a short story writer should be studied more carefully.
> > Why English professors poopoo JDS is that students really get
> > Salinger and live with his ideas in affective ways that many teachers
> > are not trained to deal with. I was lucky. I spent my first graduate
> > life getting trained as a poet so when it came time to do the dis on
> > Salinger, I was tenaciously able to guard the fact that literature
> > has feeling and studying the feelings and meaning making together
> > makes more sense than dividing them. But for all the good ideas my so
> > called Salinger education has found, he still does not carry much
> > weight among English professors. I balance the condescension I
> > receive as a Salinger scholar with the ironic fact that Salinger has
> > helped make me a successful "section man." I understand and live with
> > Salinger's fiction and have been able to earn professional respect
> > outside of English departments because Salinger's work makes me care
> > about my students. Publishing also helps and even in departments like
> > mine where Salinger isn't impressing the major dudes, my Salinger
> > work is well regarded. But as I sit here now, I want to say this--it
> > doesn't matter who your teachers want you to read. Just do it and
> > read others too...know your reading life is yours...professors will
> > help where they can, but as long as readers don't stray too far from
> > what pages tell them, they will stay close to the pages that matter
> > most. will
> >
> > PS: My own example is not a good one.
> > --
> > Will Hochman
> >
> > Associate Professor of English
> > Southern Connecticut State University
> > 501 Crescent St, New Haven, CT 06515
> > 203 392 5024
> >
> > http://www.southernct.edu/~hochman/willz.html
> >
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