Subject: second opinion
From: Scottie Bowman (rbowman@indigo.ie)
Date: Thu Sep 07 2000 - 16:27:08 GMT
I've only had access so far to extensive extracts from
the book but - nope - the more I read the more
convinced I am I was right in my original diagnosis
of terminal agraphia americanensis making its first dread
appearance shortly after the Catcher.
I can well believe he goes into the woodwork every day
to write. But I suspect it's more like Capote's 'typing.'
For however reclusive or eccentric an artist may appear,
as an organic creature he remains dependent for continuing
growth & vitality on the continuing interaction with other
human beings. I can think of no writer who insulated himself
from the world in this way & who went on to produce
much of value. Conflict is essential to life & to control
one's enviroment so tightly as never to have to face it brings
about the eventual death of the spirit. Even old Marcel working
away at his intensely introspective book in his cork lined studio
pampered & cossetted by the devoted Celine ventured out
most evenings into the cafes & brothels of Paris.
One doesn't have to like an artist to love his work. But then
when one instinctively turns away from that work at a certain
point it's a help in understanding when someone who knew
him well says: 'Yes, it was around then when things began
to go badly wrong.'
Scottie B.
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