158
them. To invest Mr. Patimkin's
business with "the dignity of a
family tradition," is pure projec–
tion: Roth derides the business in
the same terms in which he derides
everything else about the Patimkins.
(Does Miss Mann think it's pure
coincidence that Patimkin made his
money in
sinks?)
Moreover there is
no reason to suppose that Ron will
not eventually get the hang of this
particular competitIOn, nor that
Patimkin Sink feels any great loss
of personal meaning in turning
it
over to him. As for Brenda's run–
ning herself and Neil around the
track "to win parental approval,"
I must apologize for my disbelief to
those Radcliffe girls who have found
themselves in this position; but I
rather doubt that most 'Cliffies
would describe such doings as so–
phisticated.
Miss Mann would have me see
Neil's narration from the outside
and overthrow Neil's stated values
in order to arrive at the a\.ithor's
intended meaning. I rejected this
possibility because I could not find
a single sentence where the author
gives his readers a definite clue
that this is his desire, and it seems
strange to me that Miss Mann at-
McLEAN
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MADISON GALLERY
600 MAD I SON AVE.
JAN. 28-FEB. 10
tempts to defend this interpretation
without producing such a sentence.
If
we are, as she contends, to "see
Neil .. . through Roth's eyes," I
would like to have more than my
own conjecture as to the location
of those eyes. Miss Mann would
find the collected reviews of
Good–
bye, Columbus
interesting in this
resp ect. Whereas the majority of
reviewers accept Neil as hero, othen
admire him just as warmly as a well–
conceived foil, and appreciate what
they take to be his undermining.
But regardless of how they stand
on Neil, each reviewer comes up
with a different interpretation of
the action: obviously Roth's vague–
ness provides a field day for per–
sonal projection. Until the text
shows me otherwise, I shall take
Neil seriously.
If
one can not, the
book is even emptier than I thought
-for there are no alternative values
advanced to counter Neil's, cer–
tainly no real "social comment."
Yes, I welcome Miss Mann's re–
ply, because as a document it seems
to substantiate my assertion about
Radcliffe girls. Clearly it is a pro–
duction far beyond anything we
could expect of Brenda Patimkin.
Jeremy Larner
FEB. 17 - MAR. 9
EARL MILLER
RECENT
PA INTINGS
&
DRAWINGS
PHOENIX GALLERY
40 3rd Ave. at 10th St., N.Y.C.
