I remember erasing a "Fuck You" off of my high school's bathroom wall after I read _Catcher_ for the first time--about ten years ago. You are so right on the money, Craig. It's the little things about literature that make them a part of the individual reader's consciousness--that's what it's all about. That's why I keep picking up new books, and old ones too. Patrick pfkw@msn.com -----Original Message----- From: craig king <craig.king@cwcom.net> To: bananafish@lists.nyu.edu <bananafish@lists.nyu.edu> Date: Monday, September 14, 1998 12:27 PM Subject: those tiny little things that make it all worthwhile. hello hello . . . apart from the theories of interpretation i've been enjoying reading, something else occured to me. less academic but valid. clearly we all love salinger. hell, if we didn't we wouldn't be here. the peculiar thing about salinger for me, is that when i think about franny i think about martinis, when i think about zooey i think about that splendidly ugly shower curtain. it's more than a meticulous attention to detail, for me, it's that they remain as vivid in my mind as the words these characters speak. more than any other of my favourite writers (pynchon, ballard, kerouac, etc.) salinger seems to capture the intense pleasure of the object. as object. not as symbol, metaphor, etc. but as object. in all its integrity. numerous ideas fall into place as i write concerning this object-love of mine but i'm interested to see if any one else is interested. if not, never mind. if so, do tell, as it is the peculiar sharpness of image i see when thinking about salinger that makes me love him, in the end, more than most other scribes. i've always enjoyed lengthy discussions of theory but i also believe that there's much substance in those intangibles that bind an author to a reader. for me, it's those tricky, can't-quite-place-the-why moments that make salinger who he is. well, what he is, perhaps. as for who he is? like lord lucan with a pen . . . hope for a response, craig king