Re: Salinger's Working Methods
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@hotpop.com)
Sun, 10 Oct 1999 13:31:17 +1000
Will wrote:
> I liked Colin's points and just thought it was funny that hamilton never
> picked up on the thinking that Colin uses...in other words, the
deposition
> could have given hamilton better insights into Salinger as a writer but I
> think by that time the legal stuff was blinding him...will
Yes, very good points from both Colin and Will. The thing that frustrated
me most about the Hamilton biography was the sheer egotism of trying to
insert himself into JDS's life so agressively. I never got the impression
that Hamilton actually wanted to chronicle JDS as much as he wanted to buy
his own immortality via JDS. *He* wanted to be the one who finally lured
him into the open, who cracked the code and solved the mystery - and took
the credit. He comments in the introduction that `my name and Salinger's
will now be inextricably linked', or words to that effect, which is
rubbish. And, as he realised that this wasn't going to be possible, that
JDS refused to be moulded into the cartoonish role in which Hamilton had
cast him, then the story became more about the biographer than his subject.
And you're also absolutely right, Hamilton fails to utilise his rare
first-hand communication with Salinger to provide any literary insights
beyond `he's a cranky old bastard'. Despite the fact that he resolved only
to explore JDS's career up to his last published work, it's impossible not
to apply these insights to his later works. I'm still yet to see any work
which incisively explores the biography but also provides a good commentary
on the works. You still up to it, Will ???
Gotta love that book (:
Camille
verona_beach@hotpop.com