I'm not sure why writers come and go in groups, but they do. Bloomsbury and the Left Bank and New Journalism brought the world great groups of writers, and this week, Salinger and Auchincloss and Zinn leave together. Maybe it has something to do with apartments in Heaven and the need to find amicable roommates, in which case, god speed, God, good luck with J.D., but as intrigued as I am by Salinger's Pynchon complex, and the possibility of 14 (!!!) or more unseen manuscripts in that safe, Zinn and Auchincloss may be lesser known, but it seems hard to say lesser writers, so let's not forget to crack the spine on an old copy of A People's History of the United States or one of Auchincloss' presidential bios (at least for me, that's how I came to know his writing) as well as that underlined, annotated Catcher in the Rye.
As Thompson once wrote, "There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die."
Selah.
So it goes.
Mabye - I had never really give that thought before but you might be onto something.
ReplyDeleteKate xx