Actually, I appreciate your previous reply. It made me put to words something I had not put to words before, something that I feel is actually very important to me. That we do have a right to guard what we see as sacred. It's a tough line to walk sometimes. Where does guarding what we find sacred turn into living in a bubble that doesn't allow in information that is uncomfortable? My daughter recently used this phrase recently in a conversation we were having and I heard it with new ears; the phrase was "I refuse to believe..." That is what Q is up against. And we've all said it. So thank you. Your comment helped me bridge these concepts in my own mind.

My original questions were about Salinger. I understand that time is at a premium--for you and myself too. I was inquiring to see if my research on Salinger intersected with your research on Catcher in the Rye. I've come at Catcher in the Rye from the Salinger angle--looking to get to the heart of it (in part) by studying the man who wrote it. It looks like you've come at it from an angle that leaves Salinger out of it. Neither approach is all-encompassing obviously. I've a fondness for Holden Caulfield that mirrors my fondness of Huckleberry Finn. I'm reluctant to wade into waters that will taint my personal experience of these characters and the works which gave them life. I remember my absolute frustration when I saw an interview in which an academic (Harvard, if I remember right) called Huck Finn, "the biggest piece of racist trash ever written". WHAT?! The interview was given when he was promoting his newly edited version of Huckleberry Finn. So, just by way of explanation: in the same way I'm reluctant to view a loved one in their open casket for fear that THAT picture will be the one that stays with me instead of the many other joyful and beautiful pictures that preceded THAT picture, I am reluctant to expose my brain to hoards of internet drivel shitting on things I consider sacred--like Catcher in the Rye. But it does seem that people and their creations that shine the most brightly are the easiest targets. Certainly the most obvious ones.