Before 'Catcher In The Rye'; the eccentricity of poetry

THE REAL HOLDEN CAULFIELD: The Awl publishes an excerpt from Michael Moats's essay "The Real Holden Caulfield", the day prior to the 60th anniversary of the publication of The Catcher in the Rye. On the naming of the protagonist: "According to one story, Salinger was walking through Manhattan some unassuming day in 1947 when he came across the marquee for the movie Dear Ruth, starring William Holden and Joan Caulfield. Side-by-side in marquee letters (in lights, as it were) were the words ‘Holden’ and ‘Caulfield.’ Another story carries over the Joan Caulfield connection, but instead claims that ‘Holden’ came from one of Salinger’s shipmates during his time as part of the entertainment crew on a cruise ship." Read the whole thing.

I THOUGHT YOU WERE A POET: Poetic eccentricity, a game of continual escalation. "Like the gossip it creates, it’s both sensational and boring."

A LITTLE LATE, BUT STILL POIGNANT: Although I'm aware that much of the hype and excitement about David Foster Wallace's posthumous novel The Pale King has already died down, I still think that this review by John Jeremiah remains relevant. In particular, his descriptions about Wallace himself. "The one time I met him, at a reception before a reading, I spoke to him only to mumble stock phrases about "admire your work," etc. But the visual impression has remained strong, because in that cocktail-party atmosphere (Tom Wolfe was ten feet away, in his white suit), Wallace was possibly the most physically uncomfortable-looking person I've ever seen. If you have, at any point in your life, been trapped in a room in a mountain house with a forest animal, a raccoon or a bobcat, that's how Wallace seemed, frozen like that. He had a smile on his face like he was waiting for someone to punch him. Yet was polite and shoulder-shruggy when he spoke to you." Very good piece.