Subject: First impression
From: Brian Fenton (fentonb@mathds1.maths.ul.ie)
Date: Tue May 13 1997 - 16:10:41 GMT
Hello.
As the welcome message suggested, I'm saying hello.
I've been a Salinger fan for quite a few years now, and I've
steadily gathered together a collection of his publications.
I never really felt the need to search for information about
him or meet other fans until this week. I picked up a copy
of For Esme - With Love and Squalor secondhand in Dublin
(Ireland) and whilst reading the second story in it (Uncle
Wiggly in Connecticut) I found myself unable to stop weeping.
I've read the story again and I don't know why I cried, but
something then persuaded me to seek out a reason. In doing so
I discovered I am most certainly not alone in seeking out
Salinger (which is a comfort, but my immediate reaction was
to back away and give the man his peace, after reading of the
difficulty he has had from so-called "well-wishers"). Then, I
unearthed this list and felt that it might lead me to more
answers.
Of course, it could be just more information overload,
but I have found solace before in overload. I'm certainly
willing to give it a try! I wonder if I am alone in my motivations
for joining this list - in that I hope to learn more about myself
and the human experience than about Salinger or his stories? I doubt
it. I certainly hope not - for me, reading the stories is enough. I
feel little inclination to discuss them in detail, although I as
others do also, I'm sure, gasped and grinned in awe over the exquisite
choice of words and phrases (in particular, having just read it for the
first time: The Laughing Man). Enough, I'll lurk for a while...
BTW, is there a Red House Painters connection? That
just struck me - I'll have to sit down and dwell and expand upon it.
-- Brian fentonb@mathds1.ul.ie or fentonb@hotmail.com VENEER homepage: http://mathds1.ul.ie:8080/~fentonb/index.html - To remove yourself from the bananafish list, send the command: unsubscribe bananafish in the body of a message to "Majordomo@mass-usr.com".
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