Re: BANANAFISH digest 120
Malcolm Lawrence (malcolm@wolfenet.com)
Wed, 08 Oct 1997 23:49:09 -0700
> While Salinger might prefer that his work remain undiscussed, I suspect
> that even he knows it will not remain so. And of all the people with whom
> I've discussed Salinger's work, this group has been the most satisfying and
> rewarding -- even in its bad moments.
I've always been torn with literary criticism. As a writer myself, I despise
literary criticism. I hate throwing a text on a carving block and dissecting it
to see how it ticks. But on the other hand, in the past twelve years I've
become such a scholar of Joyce who basically dares/begs you to take apart the
text...yet no matter how or how often you take it apart, it still resuscitates
itself relentlessly and resoundingly. And I guess that's the conclusion I've
come to. A friend of mine asked me a couple of days ago "What makes a great
writer?" And I guess my answer is just that a great writer's work can withstand
analysis, no matter how insightful or off-base, yet still retain it's elusive
essence. I think time and age have a lot to do with this too. The Salinger I
read in high school was far different from the Salinger I read in college, and
completely different than the Salinger I read now at the age of 33. But it's
the same writer. It's the same works. And that elusive essence is still there.
That's a great writer for you.
And as I've said before, we didn't have mailing lists when I was growing up and
first reading Salinger. I knew of no one else I could talk to about him and his
works for many years. I discovered him on my own in high school and never had
his work in any class in college, so to find this list is like a long lost
thrill I'd given up on ages ago.
When I discovered this list in January (because I heard about the webpage when
it was announced that Hapworth was going to be published) I never dreamed I'd
be a member of the list this long. In fact, quite a few times I've thought
about unsubscribing just because, well, a lot of the same ground gets covered
on a very regular basis simply because new people come on the list who have all
the same queries. But I've come to really know and love the people on this list
who have stayed, and even the ones who have left. Must be something about
Salinger that draws incredibly insightful and articulate people. I'm on the
John Cale mailing list as well, and I get the sense that the same types of
people are drawn to John Cale as well. Sometimes the list goes dead for
AGES...and I find myself actually missing the other subscribers. "Oh, I wonder
what Monica is up to these days? What's Roberto down in Peru doing? How is
Susan in Chicago?"
Malcolm