The Death of J.D. Salinger

As we all know, over the week the great American author, J.D. Salinger died at the age of ninety-one.

Being able to identify him as 'great' could seem problematic when the volume of his work is taken into consideration. We all know him as the writer that penned Catcher in the Rye. Many of us read this book while growing up and identified with the troubled, conflicting emotions of the main character Holden Caufield. But this was not simply a teen angst novel. Salinger perfectly caught the glimmer of teenage rebellion and placed it within the overall scheme of a life. While the struggle of Caufield was one of a hormonal teenager, it was treated as an important stage in his life. Salinger made the trivial important and in doing so, added importance to our own trivial lives.

Along with Catcher in the Rye, Salinger wrote a relatively small number of short stories. This is the total sum of his published works and has been a talking point for many critics over the past few decades. Salinger essentially disappeared off the literary map and went into hiding for decades. Some saw this as a confirmation of their opinion that Salinger had a limited vision for his literature, while others felt that he was doing a disservice to the literary community by isolating his talent.

Without really knowing the man I would still like to posit an alternative theory. Some critics have made the claim that Salinger felt that remaining in the public eye would compromise his work. While I do believe that he could have published many more fantastic works regardless of this pressure, this defense of artistic vision does ring true in relation to Catcher in the Rye. Holden constantly berates the 'phonies' that do not follow up on their promises and are only out to please themselves. This novel made every reader as important as the next and also as important as the writer. By becoming a recluse in this way, Salinger confirmed his own artistic vision in Catcher and made the book a more meaningful identification of ordinary heroics.

J.D. Salinger sacrificed his potential fame and fortune to imbue his work with more poignancy and this certainly allows us to call him 'great'.

-The English Student

Haitian Leverage

The first question countless people ask when observing external disaster: how can this benefit me?

While politicians may not admit to such callous emotions it almost certainly will cross their minds at some point. The Haitian disaster that has claimed the lives of at least 200,000 has inevitable been hi-jacked by such self-serving people. For governments and politicians there seems to be two main strategies of self-interest.

For smaller nations the strategy is one of self-promotion. For many reasons it is in the best interest of these governments to give generously to the people of Haiti. Doing so highlights the humanitarian spirit of the country and raises their international profile. If a country can boast a high ratio of donated money per citizen they will garden acclaim from all over the world. Larger 'world powers' face a different sort of playing field. Countries like the U.S. and the U.K. have frequently made claims to lead the world through decency and compassion. If they fail to live up to these expectations in this crisis then their entire ethos will be undermined. These powers need to act in order to preserve themselves. Obama does not want another Katrina.

So should we decry this hollow form of 'charity'? Indeed, does it even count as charity if the giver gains from it? I am tempted to take the line that our idealogical basis of charity is flawed and as such should be addressed, This would negatively affect the short term aid policy while hopefully creating a more generous and compassionate world in the long term. But the state of events in Haiti simply does not allow me to comfortably make this claim.

These people need aid and for once, the end might actually justify the means.

-The English Student

Inglourious Basterds: Film Review

Resistance is an interesting film theme and an interesting element in all film reviews.

This choice of a film review may seem quite strange at first. For one thing, the film has been out of cinemas for a long time and has recently gone to DVD. All actual film critics have long gotten their praise and detractions in before mine. When you couple this with the insulting spelling of the title, an English Student like myself would naturally be resistant to choosing to write about Inglourious Basterds.

This resistance is quite a good summary of my overall impression of the film. On one hand, Tarantino's latest film seems to care very little about how it is received. The film is an incredibly unusual combination of old west, 60s and ultra modern styles. Any film fan would find the performances of Brad Pitt and Christoph Waltz both chilling and brilliant at the same time. However, purists of any of the many styles and war film fanatics would balk at the many ridiculous plot lines and situations that this film presents. When watching you're not sure if you should be laughing at the bizarre situation or disgusted at the brutality that it overlays. Gaining a footing with the film is almost impossible.

That is exactly why resistance is the theme of this review. If you simply must place labels on a work of art in order to understand and appreciate it then you often miss the point of the whole exercise. This is Tarantino's war film and if a viewer is expecting anything else then they will certainly be disappointed. But when the natural resistance to this Frankenstein's monster of a film is overcome it becomes a wonderful, heartfelt, harrowing and hilarious piece of art. If Inglourious Basterds teaches us anything (and it will not be morals that it teaches!) it is that we must let artists do what they will and praise them for it.

The world of the film critic should release a bit of tension and enjoy masterpieces like Inglourious Basterds.

-The English Student

Forging Out a Pre-Forged Path

Once again a bus journey has lead me to some introverted thinking.

Rain was streaming down the window in front of me. Pellets of moisture ran from the top right corner to the bottom left as the bus careered through the seasonal storm. As a new droplet hit the window it invariably coursed through a path made by a previous droplet. As I was making my way to work while considering the options of my future, this scene took on a very different meaning for me.

The window pane became a metaphor for life choices. As the rain courses down the window and is funnelled into certain paths, so to are the courses of our own lives. There are specific routes that we will all take that are pre-determined before we even begin life. While at times we can arc off and take a slightly different path, we will end up back at a travelled road before long. It was long in the making that I would take this bus journey and see this pattern on the window.

This post is not intended to rant against the lack of control many of us feel in our life's and rather to point out how ill-equipped we are to deal with it. Many of my friends have really began to struggle with these patterns. When we start in school we are on the first path of life. We go through the motions and follow on to secondary school. We do not make any real life decisions until we consider what to do next. Even then the main life decisions can be deferred if desired. We always desire to defer this decision. So when we face the real world we are lost and do not even have the equipment or practice to make decisions. I do not rant against a lack of control, I rant against a lack of ability to make the most of the limited control we are offered.

So we course down the window, not knowing where we are going and yet knowing that it has already been determined.

-The English Student

Meta-Retrospectivity

The two main things that we have been exposed to in the last week are as follows; decade long retrospectives and snow.

Just about every single point of publication, whether online or off has been devoted to summing up the last ten years. Analysis of events deemed to be world shifting is coupled with offbeat references to our supposed past naivety. We now know better about the economic fragility of the world, what clothes look good and what politics is defunct. However, I reject the idea that we have actually changed as a species. While the form of our existence may have changed, at the core we are the same.

While we are being bombarded with these retrospectives we are also beset by the previously mentioned snow. When we see this pure and untouched frozen canvas we are compelled to leave some kind of mark. It does not matter what form it takes; a footprint, a message, a drawing. We just have to make an impression and are scornful to those that have made one before us. Inevitably, the snow will melt and along with it, our mark fades away. That is, until the next snow fall comes and we find ourselves faced with another clean, white slate.

Our species understands the transience of life and existence. We know that any mark that we make individually or as a group will be carried away with the passing of our lives. This pointlessness of what we deem 'achievement' is almost impossible to face and so we fight hard to resist it. For a moment, we celebrate and commiserate a decade so that we can move on to the next. These retrospectives allow us to feel a sense of control over time while allowing us to become subjects to its power over us. Even if these sensations are illusory, they are necessary.

So let us take full advantage of this current reflective period, for it will melt away very shortly.

-Then English Student

Stealing the Signifiers

Do not let the title fool you, I will not use this time to debate conceptual theories of signs. Instead I wish to discuss two practical examples of these theories.

Last week a bizarre situation in Germany met with international outrage. The famous sign outside the Aucshwitz concentration camp declaring "Arbeit Macht Frei" (or "Work Sets You Free") was stolen in the middle of the night. This act was branded as atrocious, with some Israeli ministers going so far as to call it an "act of war". Putting aside the ideological concepts behind these acts and reactions it is useful to look at the specific act involved. A group of people scaled a fence and stole a sign. How could this illicit such a furious response? A physical act has threatened an ethical and ideological concept.

A similar question arises at this time every year in relation to Christmas. The use of the word 'Xmas' to talk about this time of year has become a point of contention between religious and secular, materialist and anti-capitalist for years. By taking the word 'Christ' from the signifier, many believe that the season has lost its original religious causes. By changing the name this time becomes less about religion and more about spending and gift-giving. When in a generous mood, many religious people would call this mis-appropriation and when in a more fervent mood, they would call it theft. The simple re-arranging of letters has in this case, threatened an entire religious concept.

In both of these situations the degradation of a signifier has damaged the signified. When we put so much belief and importance on these signifiers they become focal points for the original causes that created them. That makes them very obvious targets for those with contrary agendas or opinions. We would readily admit that these focal points are merely representations that can never fully encompass the originating situations. But we must also realise that the destruction of these focal points can never fully destroy these originating situations either.

If we can understand this as a society our communication will become far more comfortable and more importantly, far more honest.

-The English Student

Social Grotesque II

This week the grotesque was obvious from the international news to the streets.

Chinese etiquette and social niceties came under international scrutiny as a policeman died from alcohol poisoning while negotiating with local business people. Politeness demanded that the policeman equal his companions levels of alcohol consumption and this resulted in his death. It has also become international knowledge that many companies employ people that are greater capable of drinking in these occasions in China. Value it seems, is given to those that can consume the most. This consumption is overt, obvious and disgusting.

The streets of many major cities have been mimicking this pattern in the past week. The 'Christmas Rush' has begun, with thousands flocking to consumer centres. An absurd amount of money is being spent during every opening hour of every opening day, with many shops extending their hours in an effort to encourage the insane flurry of spending. The streets are literally jammed with people and there is no sign of this abating until at least the end of the year. The level of consumption again is overt, obvious and disgusting.

Each of these situations highlights more aspects of this social grotesque. While they may be in an effort to impress and help each other, the luxury of these situations is getting to a sickening level. We are glutting ourselves in the consumerist temples that we have created. It is becoming obvious that this consumption simply cannot be sustained. I have heard the theory that humans are one of the only animals on the planet that will stop eating or drinking when they are full, rather than say, dogs that will keep eating so long as their is food. Perhaps we can resist this urge on a personal level. But we are truly failing on a social level.

Which brings us to the major example of social grotesque this week: the failure of Copenhagen makes our failure all the more inevitable.

-The English Student