----Original Message Follows---- Date: Thu, 15 Oct 1998 14:23:34 -0700 (PDT) From: Emily Friedman <bananafish_9@yahoo.com> Subject: Re: Pilgrim Books To: bananafish@lists.nyu.edu Reply-to: bananafish@lists.nyu.edu > > I've often wondered why folks who have no interest whatsoever in > spiritual matters would be interested in these books.( the Glass stories, > the rest of you can have that snotty Holden Caufield as far as I'm > concerned.) Well, I think two things about this message are pretty funny. First, that you honestly seem to be implying that people who don't appreciate literature for the same reasons you do could actually get some sort of meaning from it. Second, that your remark about Holden Caulfield being snotty exemplifies my first point. I mean, really, do you think that Holden Caulfield is just "snotty"? That's pretty much what my teachers thought of me in high school, I think. The less aware ones, I mean. But even if you do thik that of Catcher, can you honestly see no link between Holden and Salinger's martyrs? Come on. As for atheism, well, I don't understand it. I don't think I can, since I spend so much time looking around. Maybe it's just the things I'm looking at. Anyway, I see religion in just about every literary work, and I especially see it in Holden. I mean, he's searching for meaning, right? For truth and non-phoniness and all that other stuff. I think that's the place where most religion stems from--those BIG questions, and that horrible search. Maybe atheism stems from not being able to find an answer that fits you. Who knows? ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com