Sinister: Holden Caulfield's syndrome (connected to Joe Vester's crush on Thora Birch)

arlequim at xxx.br arlequim at xxx.br
Fri Nov 30 00:21:39 GMT 2001


I was reading again "The Catcher in the Rye" a few days ago. This book is
one of those I take everywhere I go, so that I can take a look at it once in
a while. There are others in the same situation, like Joyce's "Dubliners"
and Anatole France's "The Island of the Penguins". I'd love to do the same
thing with "The Magic Mountain", by Thomas Mann, but I have to be criterious
- it's hard to carry an eight-hundred paged edition in the bag. 

Reading "The Catcher..." , I reached that part in which Holden Caulfield,
Salinger's alter ego, says there are books that make him want to know the
author personally - kind of making friends with the author, talking to him,
asking about his fears, his assurances, drink a beer... And it happens to me
frequently, at different degrees. And that's what I call "holden caulfield's
syndrome". I must admit there are lot of possible H.C.S.'s, because the
character is so incredibly "overloaded" you can see yourself in many of his
manners. There are probably another technical name for this will to know
people who talks to you by movies, books and TV shows, but I don't know for
sure. 

As I read Joe Vester's message, I must say: I have an incredible celebrity
crush on Thora Birch too. Just like that: the will to, at least, talk to her
and discover if she had something to do with the nice roles she played in
"American Beauty" and "Ghost World". I left the projection room after "Ghost
World" just wanting to meet her outside, or anyone like she was onscreen.
Someone that confused, that beautiful, that lonely... Probably I'd have
nothing deep to tell her (my english is far too poor), but at least I could
recite a poem or something... don't know... My "crush on" Thora Birch, I
guess, is more like a syptom of Holden Caulfield's syndrome in the movie
style. I felt totally identified...

P.S. There are not many goths in Brazil nowadays, but I have to agree that
they are a little too pretentious, almost funny. Being goth in Brazil is a
risk, because the make up melts quickly with the warm weather.
Ana, from Brasilia, is not a pretentious goth. She seems pretty nice. She's
more like... authentic. 

P.S.2 I have a crush on Shirley Manson.... oh-oh, that girl singing "send me
an angel to love..."!...




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