JDS delivers New Yorker
Paul Kennedy (kennedyp@toronto.cbc.ca)
Tue, 29 Jun 1999 16:39:27 -0400 (EDT)
It struck me this morning, when I was reading somebody's message about
"Hapworth", that I have J. D. Salinger to thank for bringing me into the
fold of the finest periodical on god's green earth. I first read
"Hapworth", in the basement stacks of my university library, in the early
spring of 1974, when I should have been studying for final exams. I'd
uncovered the citation in the back of some sort of critical volume about JDS
(probably the Twayne series.... Where's Will when I need him?) and set out
in search of plunder. BINGO! I struck gold almost instantly, in a bound
copy of 1965 New Yorkers....
It's possible that I'd even picked up the exact issue, fresh off the press,
in my dentist's office back in June of 1965.... I'd have been fourteen at
the time, and undergoing an awful lot of dental work. But I remember that I
simply couldn't penetrate the New Yorker.... I mean, it was supposed to be
a magazine. But where were all the pictures? Something seemed suspicious.
It also seemed to be awfully upper-class. My dad worked on the line at GM.
Almost inevitably, back in 1965, I'd opt for an old issue of SI instead.....
Less than a decade later, it was a REVELATION to discover one of my very
favorite writers in the pages of an otherwise eminently disposable magazine.
I began to read the New Yorker regularly. I still do. I notice that Tim
does too--but then again, Tim IS a New Yorker--periodically pointing out
recent highlights that are always eminently illuminating. Thanks, Tim! And
please keep it up!
And thanks JDS!! I can't tell you how impoverished I'd feel if I didn't
have a mountain of New Yorkers stacked in at least three separate places,
just waiting for me to sample their stored treasures....
Cheers,
Paul