Re: Bases and Faces

Gene Woo (pariah1980@yahoo.com)
Wed, 06 Oct 1999 20:48:53 -0700 (PDT) 

I agree with Camille on this one. Coming of age
stories are very important I think. As great "Catcher
in the Rye" is, a lot of people in my generation could
care less about a book that old. There's a book by
Russell Banks(author of the film "Affliction") called
"Rule of the Bone" and it's a coming of age stories in
the 90's that has been compared to "Catcher in the
Rye", but it takes place in the 90's and deals with a
kid with no father, a criminal record, a tendency to
look out for little kids that are in trouble(like a
modern day catcher in the rye), and an alcoholic
stepfather that makes advances on him at nights. Other
coming of age stories that I've always loved are:
"Stand By Me" aka "The Body" by Stephen King, "A Bronx
Tale" written by Chazz Palminteri, "Trainspotting" by
Irvin Welsh(who by the way admits to being an old fan
of "Catcher in the Rye", etc... etc.. to quote a great
man, "The times they are a changing"


-- Camille Scaysbrook <verona_beach@hotpop.com> wrote:
> Jim wrote:
> > Because there has to be a point in writing a
> coming of age story ;)  Or a
> 
> > point to the loss of innocence, and sexual
> awakening.  To me, a story
> that 
> > depicts those things and goes no further is a
> waste of time.  I've 
> > experienced all that and am aware it happens,
> thank you very much.  So
> what?
> 
> What, then, is the point of reading Catcher? What
> indeed is the point of
> reading anything? Are you saying that the quality of
> empathy is utterly
> irrelevant in literature? This is extremely puzzling
> to me. To me the
> beauty of TLM is that is conveys a similar message
> to Catcher in a
> completely different, very succinct way - in perhaps
> the way that Holden's
> English teacher would have liked. You don't need to
> know anything about the
> protagonist to recognise and empathise with his
> plight. 
> 
> I think you're attempting to put the O. Henry filter
> over this story - just
> because it is masquerading as a simple tale doesn't
> mean it is one. Why
> should the story within the story be parallel to the
> action? What invisible
> rule says so? Anything other than your own
> expectations? Salinger would
> *never* be that obvious. Why should he be? To me
> that is one of the most
> delightful aspects of his fiction. The fact that the
> stories intersect only
> subtly if at all only makes the story all the more
> resonant for me. I
> recommend that you go back and read it again
> remembering you're reading
> Salinger, not James Thurber.
> 
> Camille
> verona_beach@hotpop.com
>   
> 
> 


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