Subject: Re: Reference to JDS by Paul Thomas Anderson
From: Will Hochman (hochman@southernct.edu)
Date: Tue May 07 2002 - 17:11:44 EDT
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 HochmanAssociate 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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