DeLillo + the public figure
Kay/Bill Burbidge (burbidge@mb.sympatico.ca)
Tue, 12 May 1998 22:02:07 -0500
I was wondering, being new to the list and all, how many of you have
read Mao II by Don DeLillo. The protagonist is based on Salinger,
namely the front page photo of Salinger. DeLillo describes it as "A
Photo of a man being shot." I think the role salinger has in the book
is to show how closely we tie characters and the writers. we are unable
to seperate salinger from holden. DeLillo's proposal would be that
salinger went into reclusion so that the reader could examine the works
without looking at them in the conifines (context) of the writer (new
criticism). I was wondering what everybody thought. Should the writer
be able to publish and not expect their personal lives to be dragged
into it. Should the work stand distinctive of the writer or is it part
of the societal contract that a writer is a public figure?
G.