[MD] Celebrity

[skutvik at online.no]

Hi Elisa.
Welcome to the playground.  

Elisa,
> > Sorry this newbie is taking a risk by posting a short off-topic
> > blurb.... I was struck by the recent deaths (a day apart) of
> > Howard Zinn and J.D. Salinger... RIP... Perhaps someone here can
> > tie this in with ongoing MOQ discussion :(

Howard Zinn I don't know about (tell me) but J.D. Salinger ... wow. I 
don't remember exactly when "Catcher in the Rye" was published but 
I read it while in "Realskole" we called and the book made a deep 
impact on me, not that the upper New York milieau faintly resembled 
my Northern Norway one but it was the "outsider" quality of young 
Holden Caulfield that struck all what I had of strings in me, and of 
course the new literary - what to call it - ironic? tone that made such 
an impact, so different from our literary figures and their prophetic 
lecturing. Anyway, after the said school - me too being a rebel 
(without a cause) and an outsider - defied my dad's wish for me to 
continue my education and went to sea. When my ship visited New 
York I thought of looking up the places mentioned in the book, 
however a eighteen year old innocent not having seen much more 
than two storey-houses NY was a bit overwhelming. Any MOQ 
connection? Hmmm. Not that I can think of except at the same time - 
the fifties - young Pirsig also were expelled from school and started 
his lateral drift,  that resulted in his Zen buddhist carreer. Salinger was 
also a Zen adherer, but any influence on the "Catcher ..." I am not 
able to spot.  

Dave T added
> You might approach it by comparing and contracting the lives of JDS
> vs RMP and the issues of celebrity. 

That may be a track. As I understand it Salinger's fame increased in 
step with his wish to be anonymous, at least it was far beyond his 
production as a writer, while Pirsig who will be a future Plato is 
completely ignored.   

C'est la vie.

Bodvar