[lit-ideas] Re: The Simpsons as philosophy
- From: "Stan Spiegel" <writeforu2@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 28 May 2006 11:15:24 -0400
this would seem to be a further associative lagniappe.<
Thank you Robert for the gift of "lagniappe." Never heard that word before.
When I looked it up, I found it was a gift. When would you use
"lagniappe" -- as you've used it here -- instead of the more common "gift?"
Stan
Portland, ME
----- Original Message -----
From: "Robert Paul" <rpaul@xxxxxxxx>
To: <lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Saturday, May 27, 2006 10:56 PM
Subject: [lit-ideas] Re: The Simpsons as philosophy
Carol Kirschenbaum wrote:
Robert, you've shaken my world. Are you certain that Homer isn't named
for Homer Simpson, the catastrphically likable character in West's _Day
of the Locust_? And are you positive that Springfield isn't harkening to
those bizarro twin towns in Oregon, Springfield and Eugene, its liberal
neighbor?
There's some Springfield in Springfield, all right.
'Springfield, Ore. Helped inspire the name of the Simpsons' hometown.
Growing up in Portland, Groening thought Springfield, the Anderson
family's hometown on TV's "Father Knows Best," was the Springfield in
Oregon. Also chosen because of the name's ubiquity.'
This is from http://www.portlandtribune.com/simpsons/
an excellent site that deals with Groening's childhood in and continuing
relationship with Portland. Springfield, Oregon, is a mill town (or was,
before the big trees ran out), and Eugene, of course, is a university
town. I worked for several years in the big Weyerhaeuser integrated mill
east of Springfield. The basic lumber mill part of the operation shut down
in 1989, because it had been built for logs with a cross-section of four
feet and larger.
It isn't clear why the young Matt Groening would have known much about the
Oregon Springfield (a bit over 100 miles south of Portland). It isn't on
the way to anywhere, really, unless one is going east from Eugene, up into
the mountains. I can't find anything about the Groenings' going camping
though. Perhaps they just went sightseeing over one of the passes.
That Nathanael West's Homer Simpson is Groening's Homer Simpson's
fictional godfather seems pretty clear. Even though Groening's father was
named Homer, this would seem to be a further associative lagniappe.
Robert Paul
trying to avoid the Intentional Fallacy
south of Reed College
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