RE: father, dear father, come home with me now ....


Subject: RE: father, dear father, come home with me now ....
From: Will Hochman (Hochman@scsu.ctstateu.edu)
Date: Tue Sep 05 2000 - 04:11:57 GMT


Jennifer, I don't think Ms. Salinger has written a book that will
"frighten" Salinger readers. I've met a fair share of writers and
rarely do I like them as much as I do on the page. You may or may
not change your perception of Salinger after reading Dream Catcher,
but it will be a better informed perception. As I read books about
Salinger by Hamilton, Alexander and Maynard, I had the feeling of
reading against the grain of the text--that is, I suspected the
authors had not entirely grasped the author and his work. I didn't
read Dream Catcher that way. Not only is Margaret Salinger's vantage
point unusually close to the author who is typically distanced from
most critics, but she has read her father's fiction closely and
researched some of his critical issues quite nicely. Her memoir is
not supposed to be a critical exegesis, but it does challenge
existing ways we conflate some of Salinger's ideas--I love the ideas
and feelings in Salinger's fiction too much not to totally enjoy
reconsidering and reevaluating...somehow you sound far too
intelligent not to know that the ways Maragaret Salinger's work
changes the ways we see her father can be illuminating, not
frightening...will

-- 
Will Hochman
Assistant Professor of English
Southern Connecticut State University
501 Crescent St, New Haven, CT 06515



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