- R.I.P. J.D. Salinger, and here's a few Salinger links: Sarah Weinman at Daily Finance on what might happen in terms of publication of his later work now, and with some additional thoughts at her own site; David Levithan talks at the WSJ about Catcher's influence on the development of the YA genre (undeniably huge); the Washington Post has a piece on the last publishing deal Salinger ever entered into (but which didn't come to fruition, obvs); and, finally, Jo Knowles served the man coffee at a charity dinner. There are lots more interesting things out there to read, of course; nothing like a recluse to generate stories and press. (I couldn't help but think during the NPR commentary where various writers talked about his influence on American letters and Rick Moody summoned up Huck Finn and Holden Caulfield as quite possibly the two hugest influences on American authors, with Nick Carraway as the third, where our famous girl character voices are in that continuum? What would they be?)
- HarperTeen launches Inkpop, a new social networking-style site for teens to post their own writing.
- Justine on the phenomenons of mansplaining and whitesplaining.
- And, finally, the FABULOUS Stephany Aulenback and her brother collaborate on "Things Dorothy Parker Might Have Said, Had She Been a Mother" over at McSweeney's.
10 thoughts on “Friday Hangovers”
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One girl’s voice (in the same coming of age/YA vein) would be Scout, from To Kill a Mockingbird. At least for me. And while not a voice so much as a character, an angsty young thing like Holden might be Frankie from Carson McCuller’s A Member of the Wedding. Hmm, both Southerns. What’s up with that? 🙂
That is interesting, isn’t it? Especially given how marginalized much Southern fiction is these days as regional fiction. But a good call on both those, especially Scout.
Er, for some reason my first reply to you didn’t post directly. But yes on both!
Justine’s blog hurt my feelings. I feel like she’s fighting against me instead of sexism or oppression. I feel like she thinks those enemies are the same thing, but I hope she doesn’t.
Oh no! I don’t think that’s true at all. I’ve never heard you do the mansplaining thing, and even if you did, she’s not saying it makes you a terrible person. I think for a lot of women it’s just a phenomenon we’ve witnessed time and again and a lot of time guys just don’t notice. (For a good–and hilarious–example see @gailsimone’s twitter stream for the last couple of days, where she has been taking apart a gender studies major going after her for not being a femininist, all while calling her “dear.”)
Yeah, it seems a lot of regional fiction is marginalized these days, which is sad to see, since so many worked hard to have that Southern voice especially recognized in the past. Yes, Scout especially.
Well what we have here is the retasking of the inclusive noun “man” to indicate something bad. So a trait that has been identified as one practiced by (knee-jerk?) oppressors has been bestowed upon a whole group based on a tangentially related characteristic. Instead of signaling out the offensive trait itself, and labeling it in such a way that describes the offense, it has been branded instead with a word that preemptively bestows the offensive behavior onto everybody male. Since I’m included, I thought I’d mention that I found it hurtful–whether or not I’m one of the good ones.
Jeremy, you know I love you, but this phenomenon is not about *you*.
(See Justine’s follow-up post: http://justinelarbalestier.com/blog/2010/01/29/i-know-you-mean-well/ )
If that’s the case single out sexism instead of men. I’m interested in fighting sexism with you. Or against you.
But this is a real thing that women experience All The Time even from the best-intentioned men. I don’t have time to post about it in depth, but Karen Healey’s recent post is also good: http://karenhealey.livejournal.com/853361.html