Salinger criticism
Jon Tveite (jontv@ksu.edu)
Fri, 31 Oct 1997 10:24:01 -0600
helena wrote:
> ObSalinger: direct me to more of this french stuff, aficionados! i have
> given up on remaining an amateur reader. i thirst for analysis,
> dissection, and lit crit. no seriously, where would you recommend i
> start my first foray into salinger criticism? scuse the ignorance, but
> who is this warren french bloke anyway?
Warren French is an American academic (although I think he's spent quite
a bit of time teaching and researching in Great Britain) who wrote the
first book-length study Salinger's work (1963). He published another
book about JD in 1988, but I've only flipped through that.
As I've said before, French seems to position himself as the person to
explain Salinger's popularity (with younger, unsophisticated readers) to
the academic/intellectual elite who don't "get" CATCHER IN THE RYE. At
the same time, he seems driven to take the wind out of JD's sails,
making the overall message something like: "Here's why the kids like it,
but don't worry if you don't -- it's not important literature." There
are people who have written much more sympathetically about Salinger,
however. Since the bond between reader and text is so central to
Salinger's work, one might argue that a lack of sympathy should
disqualify a person from claiming to really understand it -- but that
hasn't stopped anyone, apparently.
You *can* read literary criticism, Helena, without giving up your
amateur status, but I suppose you do lose a certain amount of
innocence. The important thing is to bring your own opinions to the
secondary text, so you don't end up merely accepting what the critic
says (although you seem to be a person with strong opinions -- which is
a good thing). If you want to track down "the best," or most famous, or
most controversial criticism on Salinger, check out a book like Ian
Hamilton's IN SEARCH OF..., which has an overview of the major studies.
I would recommend, however, that you just go to your nearest university
library, find the section for Salinger studies, and just browse around
until you find something that sparks your interest.
Jon