Re: AP article on Maynard
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@geocities.com)
Tue, 22 Sep 1998 15:52:24 +1000
> She has covered much of this material before. For Ms. Maynard, it has
> been
> suggested, the unpublished life is not worth living.
It's interesting how similar that sentiment is to Maynard's `To Die For'
(the only work of hers I know, and only through the movie version). Doubly
ironic, isn't it, that she should pen a story about a woman whose
ruthlessness to acquire fame leads her to destruction after living with the
*king* of anti-fameness.
Alanis Morrisette should have put *that* in her song (:
> ``One review of the book said, `Joyce Maynard is shameless.' That's true!
> I
> decided to give shame up, and what a relief it was. I can reveal regret
> and
> sadness and even dismay, but I am not a bad person.''
I think shame is an underrated quality in this day and age. A lot of people
(say, those on the Rikki Lake show) would do well to gain a bit of it. To
me, shame is linked up with pride. If you have no shame, you have no pride;
you don't see any good reason for keeping your secrets precious to
yourself.
> predatory male?''
O God who brought feminism into this ???
> ``A man kind of dictates the rules about how he is to be treated, and for
> 30
> years, people do what he says. I can't think of another public figure --
> and
> he IS a public figure -- who has been allowed to do that. He's not a
> monster,
> but he's not a god. He's a man.''
Now *that* is one thing I would agree with. In a lot of ways I wonder if
Salinger's attitude to his fame hasn't changed over the past 30 years
because in the end, he's attracting more attention to himself by *not*
giving the occasional one-column, nondescript interview in an obscure lit
mag than by doing so. I wonder if he's grown to like this power he has over
us - powerful more (I've suggested before) than even the President of the
USA over the most influential factor of people's lives - the world media? I
just visited www.joycemaynard.com and was struck by the way she's built a
cult up about herself - but in the total opposite way to Salinger; by
freely distributing autographed books, by freely distributing her time and
personality to her readers. But the thing is, Salinger publishes (or
*doesn't* publish) a book already published and 30 years old to boot, and
it makes news here in Australia, and Maynard publishes a book on Salinger
and I wouldn't have even heard about it if not for Bananafish.
Camille
verona_beach@geocities.com
@ THE ARTS HOLE
www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Theater/6442
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