Holy Fools, Batman.


Subject: Holy Fools, Batman.
From: Cecilia Baader (ceciliaann@hotmail.com)
Date: Tue Sep 05 2000 - 22:39:23 GMT


prof. will hochman wrote (after rather startlingly *agreeing* with Scottie
in a previous post):

>I used to think that creating great art justifies the human crap most lives
>generate.

Ever since I read the reviews from _Dream Catcher_, I've been musing on just
that point: when does the art stop justifying the "human crap"?

I'm an idealist. The idealist in me wants to say never, that the art never
justifies what a man can do to his family, the hurts that he can inflict in
thousands of tiny ways, the pain that will never quite heal.

But I'm also a cynic. And the cynic in me wants to say: it's going to
happen. And the happening will beget the art or the art will beget the
happening, one or the other. But it will happen, great art can't help but
destroy a little of the humanity in the creator.

A little necessary insanity?

But I keep coming back to one thing: what we're talking about here is not
necessarily the result of Salinger's art, but more his spiritual quest.
They're intertwined, inseparable. Some might call it insanity, some might
call it dedication, some might call it lack of feeling, but the fact is that
whatever it is within him that causes him to build Glass houses also causes
him (or his wife) to burn real ones down.

It is not for me to judge.

And it is also not for me to judge without seeing. I've been a bit free
with my opinion, whick I based solely on what I've read of others' reports
and opinions. It is an opinion rendered without taking a look at the primary
source and making my judgements from there. I detest that trait in others,
and will hereby quit tearing down that which I haven't seen firsthand.

But what I really want to see, will, is *your* book on Salinger. Yes?

Regards,
Cecilia.
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