Re: Teddy = parts of Seymour ?
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@hotpop.com)
Mon, 20 Sep 1999 11:25:26 +1000
Sonny wrote:
> Much as I like the Alsen book, it is to my mind, just one
> interpretative theory. Which is what it perhaps aspires to be.
>
> Besides, what relevance it has on a reading of his fiction is really
> something which eludes me completely. Now, if in "Inverted Forest" we
> find a pronounced parallel that echoes some Vedantic thought (which
> actually should not be too difficult for any one with any, as Derrida
> would perhaps say, imagi/Nation, to "prove" as the Vedantic thought
> can be about almost anything)...
So, perversely, you're arguing along the same lines as Scottie - that we
have a tendency to find meaning where there simply is none? I can easily
see that that could be a problem. However, I think this is not so far from
what I was saying the other day - that Salinger knows our tendency to dig
for autobiography, to dig for meaning - and he plays with it.
I'm not suggesting that this level of sophistication is at work as early as
`The Inverted Forest'. I have argued before that Salinger's interest as
demonstrated in the early material is that of a dilentante, (or at the very
least one who is not sure that Veda is a good thing to plop into a Slick
story!) In particular I have noted that he may have found a structuring
device for Catcher in the tales of Buddha and several other religious
texts. On the other hand I do think Salinger was a lot more clued-up about
Eastern religion - and earlier than we probably know - than we sometimes
give him credit for. Rumours of enormous note books crammed with haiku from
the 40's that were too way-out for publication abound. I think in the end
Salinger's obsession grew until it morphed with his concurrent obsession
with literature until they became one and the same. I have always noted
with interest that according to the Maynard biography, Salinger proclaimed
himself a `failed Buddhist'. All the more evidence to say that like the
monks who spent 40 years illuminating manuscripts, writing has become
Salinger's religion.
Camille
verona_beach@hotpop.com