analysis? or not?
anaconda (anaconda@wwa.com)
Thu, 09 Oct 1997 22:41:05 -0400
At 07:40 PM 10/9/97 -0400, you wrote:
>There were some comments about whether or not we should tear apart
>Salinger's work. I am still a bit undecided.
I don't think criticisizing something and analyzing, or passing
around thoughts, are the same. Personally, in a public sort of way,
I could give a rats ass about how any author writes. When I hear a
song, I don't care if it reveals some stroke of genius in how the
song is actually written, I only really care what is says to me, or
where it takes me. That said,
>On one hand, I think the only really "pure" way to enjoy a piece of
>fiction is to take it as it is, to get wrapped up in it like it's another
>little world, and the best writers are utterly convincing in that respect,
>so that when the story ends, it takes you a second to readjust and you
>realize that you've been holding your breath. It sounds really sappy, but
>that's what I like so much about Salinger, all the little details and the
>endearing characters (I don't even think of them as characters but more as
>real people) that he has.
I agree with you in most respects, but that seems to relegate it to
little more than a disposable telvision sit-com. Watch it, think,
"interesting" or laugh, then be on with your life. A mere escape. I like
to think that there is more to a good book, television program, movie,
etc... It keeps you in it even after you have left. A week later,
it pops into your head and you give it space. In this respect, any
form of art, including "graffiti" has a place, it is merely a matter
of how many people does it touch in that way. For some reason you
have thought of them as real people as much as characters. Something
he wrote spoke to you in such a way that you subscribed to this list,
as did I.
>On the other hand, I can't say that it is less legitimate to discuss your
>interpretation of his work with other people, since it is so significant.
>Somehow, I just think that discussion and analysis takes something away
>from that hold-your-breath kind of absorption that his work offers.
The posts about Seymour during the last week have been great! It is funny,
all of the years I have always thought of bananafish getting stuck in holes
as a comment on indulgence, obsession with what is "right", where other
ideas were just saying, "choosing a lifestyle that you feel you can not
get out of". I am happy to have something like this list to say, "hey,
look here, over there is interesting, but this is as well".
I suppose all I really want to say is that it is nice to finally hear
other thoughts. There is no "right or wrong" in any art. As someone
so aptly put it today, "the salinger I read at 15 was different than
what i read in college and is still different from what I read at 33"
<a paraphrase of course>.
Art of any kind should make us reflect. And Salinger certainly has done
that to me many times.
>Hey, I just got an unrelated but cool thought. I've heard that he's been
>writing for the last 20 years. Just imagine all those stories sitting
>there. Whatever his reasons for not publishing them, I hope I get to see
>them in my lifetime.
Let us hope!
best,
-bob
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anaconda@wwa.com http://miso.wwa.com/~anaconda/cure2.html
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"it's so much darker when a light goes out
than it would have been
if it had never shone"
j. steinbeck
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