Re: The whole Lennon thing


Subject: Re: The whole Lennon thing
From: Dan Owens (lorena@computer-services.com)
Date: Wed Feb 12 1997 - 00:12:49 GMT


Kevin Shea wrote:
>
> 2/11/97
>
> Hey, I already introduced myself to this list as a newspaper
> reporter/writer, so now I will do so as a Salinger appreciator and human being.
>
> Name is Kevin Shea and I was taken by Salinger like millions before me, in
> the 11th grade, and with required reading. It was the first required class
> reading that I could not put down. I still believe Catcher is his opus and
> he will never get back to reaching that level of writing. I also appreciate
> some of the stories that never get talked about, like Down at the Dinghy,
> that had a profound effect on me. I also read Ian Hamiltons book, I suggest
> you do too regardless of your opinion of it, remember, knowledge of the
> enemy is.....
>
> Anyway, the reason for this posting is this list has touched on a point that
> I am fascinated by, the Mark David Chapman issue, he shot John Lennon then
> sat on the sidewalk and started reading Catcher.
>
> Let me simply say this for starters, I think this matter falls in the
> category with every mother who tries to blame rock music for a child's death
> or suicide. What is Chapman was taken by a Ray Bradbury or Anne Rice novel?
> I love Catcher, I have read it a lot, what if someone were to find it in my
> pocket after I killed someone? The problem was Chapman, not Salinger, he
> was insane, he just happened to love a great book. Did Catcher make him do
> it? No way, his mind gone sour did.
>
> Sorry if this sounds like hyper defensive hot air, but I have defended
> Salinger a lot to others who simply say "Oh yeah the guy who killed Lennon,
> he was wacked out on Catcher in the Rye or something"
>
> Any of you ever heard this before?
>
> Kevin Shea
> Asbury Park, New Jersey
>
> -
> To remove yourself from the bananafish list, send the command:
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> in the body of a message to "Majordomo@mass-usr.com".I never said I thought he did it because Salinger INSPIRED him or
something, it just bothered me. It bothered me the way it probably
affected Salinger. So that one guy tried to kill Reagan (sp?) to get
Jody Fosters attention or whatever, so what? Jody Foster shouldn't be
BANNED or something. That's not what I meant at all. I just found OUT
about the whole Lennon thing YESterday.
        I mean, what if Salinger is really dead or something? What if
he's commited suicide or something already, but no one knows about it
cause some moron (or maybe not a moron) thought it would make a whole
bunch of people kill themselves or something. See, because that whole
Lennon thing would probably have killed me off, if I was Salinger.
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