|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
1 Review
|
Average Customer Review
Share your thoughts with other customers
Create your own review
|
|
Most Helpful First | Newest First
|
|
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
See More, Buddy,
By
This review is from: A Reader's Guide to J. D. Salinger: (Hardcover)
As an overview, Alsen's book certainly fills a void insofar as its thoroughness in covering Salinger's entire literary output is concerned; the works are covered chronologically by publishing date and cross-references abound. Particulary welcome is the coverage of Salinger's lesser-known, pre-CATCHER IN THE RYE stories, and the Glass family is also meticulously chronicled in an appendix. Ardent fans of Salinger's ouvre, however, might be a bit put off by Alsen's recurring theme of Salinger's-life-in-his-fiction approach. Not that this approach is uninteresting in itself, but it can be distracting to those New Critical types who object to the intentional fallacy. Alsen also omits a few connections concerning the Glass Family in his analyses; for example, in his discussions of 'Uncle Wiggily In Connecticut' he seems to miss that Eloise's deceased lover Walt is in fact Walter Glass, and therefore fails to consider such implications as the possibility that Eloise's daughter Ramona is also Walt's daughter. And while the book is titled 'A READER'S GUIDE. . .' Alsen states from the beginning that he wrote it so that he himself would have such a book handy. Maybe he should have titled it, 'A WRITER'S GUIDE. . .' Curiously, Alsen refers to himself in places in the third person, presumably to give an objective aura to his work. Humble guy. Either that or he's actually Buddy Glass in disguise. Things that make you go 'Hmmm . . .'
|
|
Most Helpful First | Newest First
|
|
A Reader's Guide to J. D. Salinger: by Eberhard Alsen (Hardcover - November 30, 2002)
$78.95
In Stock | |
 
| ||
