How to avoid phoniness
Jake Shafer (jshafer@antioch-college.edu)
Wed, 07 Oct 1998 14:44:52 -0400 (EDT)
okay, a few months ago I stumbled upon the bananafish home page and
thought it would be delightful/grand to join the bananafish mailing list,
so I did. It's been interesting to say the least, everyday a new stack of
e-mails appears in my inbox and as I read over them I get this sense that
there are some really smart people at the other end of these messages.
I guess I'd just like to say that I won't give into being intimidated by
your smartness and I'll send this message regardless of it's meandering
content and elusive arguments.
I am here in Ohio and weeks into my senior thesis which looks now
more then ever as if it will be about J.D. Salinger. I'm as oppossed to
this as he must be, i'm sure he'd find it a waste of time if anything
else for what else could possibly be said about his work? In the search
for a thesis that does not jibe with previous critical data I have spent
some time looking at the impact of world war two on Saliinger's life. I
entertained notions of declaring him a pre-post-modernist (an idea which
first appeared in a previous e-mail thread on this list) but while it
makes a
frightfully good argument it wasn't mine so I let it be. The war however
is mine and mine alone, few scholars have sited Salinger as the brilliant
post war writer he is and I plan to fill in those gaps, connect the dots
as it were and regrettably prove that he was debilitated by his
experiences (indeed hospitalized after the Battle of the bulge) that his
work reflects this is clear to me, that Cathcer in the Rye is a
cautionary tale warning it's readers against a society which perpetuates
war is also clear.
So there you have it, a totally bottomless thesis statement. Irgo
I am here in antioch's library trying to get out of the rain and I just
felt this urge to send an e-mail to my new friends on the bananafish
mailing list. If there's any hope that this might turn into a thread, i'd
like to signal your attention to a couple key topics: Am I a phony
because I'm approaching Salinger's work in a scholarly fashion? Is there
a connection between the war and Salinger? I mean a really strong one,
something that can't be ignored?
I hope everyone's enjoying the month of october, out here in the
stcks the leaves are turning from greens into golden oranges and yellows
and it is a sight to be hold indeed.
Sincerely,
jake