Re: Salinger
Pasha Paterson (gpaterso@richmond.edu)
Tue, 10 Nov 1998 17:36:03 -0500
I would question the notion of "learning" any text in terms of knowing
everything there is to know about it; I personally believe such a thing
to be impossible. In the class I taught, I used several various
resources -- Warren French's commentaries, my personal reading notes,
colleagues' research papers, and a bit of on-the-fly observation --
to point out things that Salinger does that are distinctively all-JD.
His style, his symbolism, his themes, all seem to carry a personalized,
unique, peculiar-to-Salinger feel. He follows certain conventions --
or with him we might call them traditions -- that help to connect
his stories with an over-arching general meaning. I would not go so
far as to attempt a study of Salinger's intentions, and I dare say he
would deny the humanity of anyone who does. My discussion of his works
in the class, then, fit better with Scottie's ideal of discourse:
> Chatting about books is something civilised people do over
> a dinner table, over a few drinks, or even through the medium
> of a mailing list.
(06NOV98)
We did not delve very far into the "literary" aspects of Salinger's
works; instead, we focused more on Salinger's ideas, his "messages"
(if you really want to call them that), the things that make these
stories unique and unified. We were not afraid to study the _Nine
Stories_ completely out of chronological and physical order, we were
not bound by issues of literary convention and the hopelessly tangled
web of literary terminology (no offense to Will et al). We just sat
around and talked Salinger. Honestly. Frankly. Without any self-
righteous section-talk.
At 14:54 11/10/98 -0500, Kari wrote:
>Everyone turned and looked at me like I was "one of those Salinger
>freaks" as the professor explained to me that Salinger has "been done to
>death," and that there's really nothing more to say about him. Is he
>right? Because, personally, I've never had the pleasure of "learning" a
>Salinger text in a classroom environment.
>
>My only experience with Salinger has been within the comfort of my own
>home, and I would really like to hear some truly academic discourse
>(like we have here). I'd even like to experiment with subjecting
>Salinger texts to some formal literary theories (just for fun). :)
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G.H.G.A.Paterson (804)662-3737 gpaterso@richmond.edu
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