Post #7

The concept of originality in writing has not been something I’ve really had to worry about before. The majority of the papers I wrote in undergrad, usually focus papers or assigned topics engaging with the text, required very little research and little to no originality. The aspects or themes I found to comment upon were probably the same ones everyone noticed and then made the subjects of their papers. Even the papers written in graduate school have parameters attached to them in some capacity that help direct what my topic needs to be. Even though my senior capstone, which was basically a thesis on the undergraduate level, was an “original work,” everyone in the class received quite a bit of guidance and help from the professor in formulating their topics. I have arrived at a preliminary scope for my thesis based on the articles and essays I’ve read, but only a more intense review of the literature will tell me if this idea has any merit and originality or if it will all have to be scrapped. Returning to the drawing board is not a pleasant possibility, but it is a reality.

Salinger studies has placed a large emphasis on the concept of Eastern religious thought in both Salinger’s personal life and in his writing. I am not familiar enough with Buddhism and Hinduism to make a complete judgment, but from what I have read, there are many articles on this topic which seem to present a (mostly) complete picture of Eastern philosophy in a number of Salinger’s writings from The Catcher in the Rye to relevant short stories in Nine Stories. I will need to become more familiar with these philosophies in order to intelligently comment on them if they happen to come up in my paper, but other aspects of Salinger’s works, especially the short stories in Nine Stories, have sometimes been neglected in favor of the predominant trend of finding religious symbols in “Teddy.” Many of Salinger’s stories focus on children, and while the role of children has been commented on by a few critics, “The Laughing Man” stands out as the one story that contains a number of children but has very little criticism written about it.