Re: further revelations
David Richardson (dwrichardson@home.com)
Fri, 11 Sep 1998 22:35:53 -0400
yes, and how 'bout poor, poor, Truman Capote? Shouldn't we and he have
known when to let well enuff alone?
Scottie Bowman wrote:
>
> I suspect compulsiveness is a personality trait of most writers,
> not just Salinger. A real writer can hardly ever stop. And we
> already know about that room-sized safe filling up with paper.
> But one obvious explanation for his refusal to publish is never
> addressed on this list: that the stuff may be - to his mind - simply
> not good enough. And he could be right.
>
> For me, an obvious parallel is Hemingway. How vividly I remember
> the years passing as we all waited for the one that was promised
> after For Whom the Bell Tolls - the long-presaged `Big One', the one
> that was going to express some final truths about `the land &
> the sea & the air....'
>
> Some of us began to suspect he was reluctant to go out into
> the really deep water ever again. And why not ? He'd already done
> his share.
>
> But eventually arrived Across the River & into the Trees - a parody
> of himself that only we, his acolytes, enjoyed. And The Old Man &
> the Sea - a contrived yarn sufficiently respectable to win the Nobel
> but now recognised as a symbol-sunk lead weight. After his suicide,
> the remaining vast load of unpublished material was examined,
> pruned, slapped about, rejigged & released to an embarassed public
> by his family & hangers-on.
>
> Three tons of junk.
>
> Isn't possible that Salinger - with the same insight - wants to
> avoid the same fate ?
>
> Scottie B.