tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2918474934970337247.post1700514192551430880..comments2024-02-28T12:23:49.991-08:00Comments on Less Hat, Moorhead: HOLDEN, MAURICE & ME; or, PUNCHER IN THE RYEM.V. MOORHEADhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15398205168324140929noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2918474934970337247.post-34554852646499013932010-02-24T01:21:20.683-08:002010-02-24T01:21:20.683-08:00I like it; thanx! The sound of the trains was alwa...I like it; thanx! The sound of the trains was always a lullaby to me; when I moved to town & the tracks were no longer nearby, I found it harder to sleep for awhile.M.V. MOORHEADhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15398205168324140929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2918474934970337247.post-12928427576753144102010-02-23T22:13:35.929-08:002010-02-23T22:13:35.929-08:00Nice post M.V.
Even here in Portland, as I am ty...Nice post M.V. <br /><br />Even here in Portland, as I am typing these lines, I hear the far away sigh of a train's horn. Living close to the tracks, on either side, can make a "noisy" thing beautiful. <br /><br />I listened to an old tape of an old band of mine tonight. The drummer has this song called SIlly Song. There is a line that goes "They raised you right, they raised you right but now you've gone all wrong." I'm not saying this applies to you, but something about your post reminded me of it. <br /><br />ZeusthemoosebunsAnonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10485998043883987962noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2918474934970337247.post-53776497472613059392010-02-23T09:52:28.677-08:002010-02-23T09:52:28.677-08:00Thanx for the comment! Yeah, Portrait is an awesom...Thanx for the comment! Yeah, Portrait is an awesome work, as is Wuthering Heights. I haven't read A Separate Peace, though, shame of the cities. I'll put in the list. I rarely read books twice, thoughI know tthere are some people who set great store by it, & even think that you can't really say you've read a book until you've read it twice. But with some books I love I'll obsessively reread chapters or passages (like the cook's sermon to sharks in Moby-Dick). For some reason I'll reread my favorite nonfiction essays over & over a hundred times, though.M.V. MOORHEADhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15398205168324140929noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2918474934970337247.post-11493896498981782632010-02-23T07:36:32.215-08:002010-02-23T07:36:32.215-08:00Yow.
For all this retro- and introspection, I gu...Yow. <br /><br />For all this retro- and introspection, I guess this book did indeed affect you. (I’ll pass on your essay to my kids if they are assigned this book in school.) I remember reading <i>Catcher In The Rye</i> while sitting on the second floor of the Gannon library, and the act of reading such a “controversial” book in the confines of this repository of Catholicity affected me more than the book. I recall being caught up in the first few chapters, but ending the book as if I’d just watched a slightly dissatisfying movie, or took a walk downtown in the rain, but returned home with nothing really to talk about despite having done so.<br /><br />I, as usual, must defer to your memory for details about the story, but there was a definite limit to my identification with the Holden character. I certainly didn’t credit this to class-consciousness, but I believe you are correct with your assessment. <br /><br />Perhaps I was more elitist even then despite my own middle-class background, but I didn’t quite get how this book was supposed to be the defining voice of the teen experience. I remember wanting to be a part of it, especially due its lauded and checkered history, but failing to really find my way in.<br /><br />What I did identify with was the character Heathcliff in <i>Wuthering Heights</i>. And, though a tough read for me, I truly loved the experience of James Joyce’s <i>A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man</i>. Opening this book felt like I was opening a heavy door, and the sentenced words looked like they were posted up on shelves so I would need a ladder to touch and examine them. (I said it was a tough read.) And the despairing nostalgia of John Knowle’s <i>A Separate Peace</i> gave me much more to consider than did <i>Catcher in the Rye</i>. I rarely read books twice, but these three high school assignments moved me enough to do so. And the Joyce book is calling me even now…triztanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11596435180897624786noreply@blogger.com