Re: All and sundry
J J R (jrovira@juno.com)
Mon, 07 Sep 1998 08:47:37 -0400 (EDT)
Good post, Brad. I think there's a line between what is there and what
isn't there in a text; between what exists in the text and what readers
put into it. But I think that line is large, gray and fuzzy. I'm pretty
wary whenever anyone says, "ANYTIME Holden says this...", whatever the
"this" may be, because few texts use symbolism that way. OF COURSE
people can use the words "subtext" and "subconscious" to allow them to
say anything they want about a text, but that doesn't validate their
claims.
I think if symbolism is used it's usually explained or revealed within
the course of the narrative without reference to anything outside the
text. We really had a problem with "A Perfect Day for Bananafish"
because some items--the color yellow, feet, trees, seemed to be
recurring, making us think they were meaningful, yet we couldn't
necessarily pin down a meaning. In that story I'd tend to allow the
conversations between characters fill the objects with meaning. I think,
for example, in the elevator, Seymour was dealing with the adult woman
who came in on a child's level, with a child's candor, etc. So it didn't
fly, while it with Sybil.
Jim
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