Re: greetings and salutations
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@hotpop.com)
Wed, 15 Sep 1999 21:25:56 +1000
> the point in the book to which people have most often referred to in
relation
> to the schizo theory is when he's walking through the streets asking for
> allie to help him across the street...i find it kind of insulting to
> attribute one of the most important events in the progression of the
story to
> a clinical mental illness (not that there is a standard explanation for
any
> give novel, but this explanation seems a bit far-fetched)
> ...andrew
This seems to me to be another of Salinger's `phony traps'. To recapitulate
the theory that has dictated much of my Salinger reading for months now: a
lot of the major questions in Salinger's fiction can be answered in two
very different ways, the obvious way and the non-obvious way. For example,
Franny pregnant/Franny undergoing religious crisis would be the archetype.
My theory is that consciously or subconsciously Salinger places such
binaries in his work to effectively `select' his readership - divide them
into those who Get It and those who Don't. Those who try and explain
Holden's condition away as schizophrenia, madness, whatever, would
definitely fall into the second category in Salinger's opinion. I first
came up with the theory with my own experiences - I published a book of
short stories and by putting the most inscrutable one first I realised I
was guilty of the same thing, putting up a sort of impasse to the
uninitiated; if you don't pass this test you're not worthy of reading the
rest. To my mind, Salinger's reader-selecting has grown and grown over the
years until we reach Hapworth 16 which, by its sheer length alone is a work
that says `I dare you to make it through this!' - not to mention everything
that follows, which we haven't seen because Salinger has apparently decided
that *none* of us Get It. So I think that your instincts are similar to
mine. There is just something unsatisfying and - yes - phoney about
explaining away Holden as a condition rather than a human being with all
the shades of grey intact.
Camille
verona_beach@hotpop.com