May 12, 2010
literary pursuits
last night, i read the first 100 pages of The Catcher in the Rye again. i haven't read this book in years and years and years. i forgot how funny Holden Caufield is. HILARIOUS! the book actually made me laugh out loud as i sat in bed, curled up in my quilt, trying to wind down after a long and very draining day. it actually accomplished the very opposite. it woke me up. hahaha! and there i was, laughing like a crazy person at a book, and it dawned on me that, the first time i read this, it didn't at all strike me that Holden Caufield is insane. other people have told me the character is nuts, but i don't really pick that up from the story. at least not at this point 100 pages in. and i don't remember anything about how the book ends so i guess and just wait and see if he gets crazy all of a sudden. although... there are similarities actually between The Catcher in the Rye and The Bell Jar... the main character's distraction and obsession... distracted obsession. getting derailed by small appearances in the world and turns of phrase and the way someone moves... they get locked up by small things. thwarted. it's like The Bell Jar for dudes. hahahaha! because i don't think The Bell Jar is all that crazy either even though it is the story of a young woman's decent in to madness. the description of the narrator, how she perceives things, don't seen crazy to me. they seem sensitive. a deep sensitivity that is easily harmed by the world... prone to feeling "outside" or Other. soft-hearted and sharp-minded can be a painful combination. it leads to a lot of confusion and agony. but i don't think that it spells crazy. there's still 100+ pages to go though so maybe my opinion will change. i thought it'd be good to re-read it since Mr. Salinger died recently... a way to pay my respects. and also, temper the information i've been letting in to my brain since the start of the year. i've been very focused on female writers and i thought it'd be a good idea to get some men in the bunch. J.D. Salinger seemed a perfect fit.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Ha Angela! Catcher in the Rye should be renamed "Dude, Where's My Bell Jar?"
I've been wanting to revisit Catcher too since Salinger's passing. I think my favorite short story of all time has got to be his "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period"-- #8 in the Nine Stories collection I believe. The narrator is also an obsessive lostboy like Holden, only more self-deprecatingly pretentious. He becomes an instructor at an arts correspondence school and winds up conducting a one-way epistolary romance with a nun painter. I'm babbling about it because it's so funny & sad & moving and explains to me so much of Salinger's ideas about art & privacy, and explains to me spiritually why he might have decided to stop writing.
Now here's my embarrassing writer confession: I have never read Bell Jar nor seen Clockwork Orange! Isn't that horrible?
I've had a hectic week and am just now catching up on blogs. You and Paco and Marina knocked the capital letters back into my comments. Some kind of spiritual jolt or exposure, like your hand x-ray above.
"Dude, Where's My Bell Jar?"
hahahahaha! yay!!! thanks, roz!
i have rectified my Orange and so so so thankful i did! and i think you'll really value what it talks about too. and the bell jar as well. the autobiographical impulse behind BOTH works is stunning and so very important.
maybe i should read Nine Stories next??? i love your description and i have not read the collection! another horrible artist confession! dang!
Oh now I really must watch CT after your description of it. And the Beethoven. I did not know Beethoven featured so heavily in it. Kubrik seems to be quite into Ludwig Van B. Eyes Wide Shut has all those references to the opera Fidelio. I love Beethoven myself, I think of him as the original punk rocker.
I definitely recommend Nine Stories. Other good stories in it besides "De Daumier-Smith" include "For Esme, With Love and Squalor," "The Laughing Man," and "A Perfect Day for Bananafish."
yes, beethoven is pretty much a character in the story, his music is so prevailent. and he is the OG punk! hahahaha! that's awesome!
i will definitely get my hands on Nine Stories. and please do see the film. i'll be reading the book soon enough too so that i can keep rolliing forward with my winding essay on it. i think it is very timely, highly contemporary... eerily so.
Post a Comment