Chimney Sweep

 

It was 1963, and 16-year-old Bruce McAllister was sick of symbol-hunting in his high school English class. He might have chosen to argue with his teacher. He could have simply failed the subject. Instead, Bruce decided to go straight to the source. He mailed a crude, four-question survey to 150 well-known living novelists, asking if they or other authors consciously or unconsciously planted symbolism in their work, and if readers ever find symbolism in works of literature that was never intended. Seventy-five of the authors contacted responded. Among them were Jack Kerouac, Ray Bradbury, John Updike, Richard Hughes, Ralph Ellison and Saul Bellow. Most of them replied that much of the symbolism Bruce and students like him were expected to study was never intended. Several of them told Bruce to write his own research paper and not expect others to do his work for him. In case you were wondering, Bruce went on to become an English professor.