Re: a Salinger story

On Thu, Nov 06, 2003 at 10:43:36AM -0800, Kim Johnson wrote:
 
> > yes, there are actually only maybe 6 pages that deal
> > with "the salinger
> > experience" directly. i can let you know the pages
>
> yes, please do. i can't be reading a 100 pages at
> work.
>
> can barely sneak the time for these posts.

I read the entire 100 pages from and to work on the subway. I am
sure I read his original "how I met JDS" article. The long PDF is
a bit creepy, a bit sad.

He provides in it a personal narrative behind the meeting of JDS and
the writing of the article. It's essentially a story about himself
and his girlfriend and how the relationship falls apart. He has her
with him when he goes to Cornish, but the article he did omits all
mention of her because they broke up while on their trip, and because
she didn't want to be mentioned. Part of it sounds stalkerish, part
is just low-down sad, seeing someone who is so emotionally a wretch
as he was when he went to Cornish.

I can't recall where I saw his article; it was published in a men's
magazine called "Oui" in the late 1970s; I think that I saw it along
with one by Michael Clarkson (I'm not sure where the Clarkson piece
appeared) when they were both reprinted somewhere in the 1980s or,
possibly, in a batch of InterLibrary Loan requests I got in the late
70s/early 80s when I first discovered JDS. I can't verify any of
it -- because I stored my Salinger files safely away at home, when I
changed jobs in January. I did such a good job of safeguarding my
files, I can't recall where I put them!

Although the Herriges "e-book" was grimly compelling (I mean, we've
all probably had relationships that turned into train wrecks, right,
and can recognize the catastrophe as it is coming at us?), I found
his story to be terrifically sad and unsettling.

But as they say, your mileage may vary.

--tim

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Received on Thu Nov 6 15:15:10 2003