Chasing ... Cutting

[Terrance Flaherty]

Dave Monroe wrote:
> 
> ... all I can say is, I've surveyed a half-dozen or so readers so far
> (imagine being approached on the street, at work, wherever, by some guy
> asking, "would you take a moment to read this Passage, this Book?"
> Should have had a white shirt, black tie ...), most unfamiliar with
> Gravity's Rainbow, but one at least having a heavily annotated first
> edition (hey, he was young ...).  Without any prompting on my part,
> everybody I've foisted those first couple of pages on have commented
> immediately on how much like a concentration camp that description was,
> even down to that "Ss."  

Were you a teacher? How about it Derek, other teachers,
students, book club members, etc.,  ever read a poem in
class and have 25 or even 50 students all agree that the
poem is about something the poet (not prophet) had no
knowledge of? Nothing right or wrong with this, of course.
If I read a passage from All's Quite and 50 students agree
that it is about the Gulf War (although that wouldn't happen
today, today most students are too young to remember the
Gulf war, a few years ago it did) that's wonderful, their
common experience is what I value, so I don't say, sorry
kids, blah, blah, blah, aren't you bored and this literature
stuff sucks big time and that old guy up in the front is
real jerk, o wonder why we sit here in the back and....

Interesting survey, don't know where you conducted it, but I
doubt it would happen in my neck of the woods.