I had to familiarize myself with some of the allusions in Zooey, which got me to thinking about how nice it would be to have a hypertext version of Salinger's works. However, combining his litigation happy attitude with his well-advertised dislike of academics, I don't see that happening anytime in the foreseeable future.
"Zooey" - Paragraph 1:
The facts at hand presumably speak for themselves, but a trifle more vulgarly, I suspect, than facts even usually do. As a counterbalance, then, we begin with that everfresh and exciting odium: the author's formal introduction. The one I have in mind not only is wordy and earnest beyond my wildest dreams but is, to boot, rather excruciatingly personal. If, with the right kind of luck, it comes off, it should be comparable in effect to a compulsory guided tour through the engine room, with myself, as guide, leading the way in an old one-piece Jantzen bathing suit.
Showing posts with label Buddy Glass. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Buddy Glass. Show all posts
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Wednesday, May 20, 2009
Letters Leave Lingering Questions
Picking up where I left off, not that this blog will make any sense to anyone but me anyway...
The next part of "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" is a letter from Boo Boo to Buddy. In it she tells Buddy that Seymour will be getting married, that no one else can go (mostly due to various and sundry duties related to the war effort) and relays her (unfavorable) opinion of Seymour's bride to be (who we find out later is a woman named Muriel).
Buddy notes that the letter is undated but does his best to give us an approximate date of May 22nd or 3rd.
Boo Boo says:
[Seymour] weighs about as much as a cat and he has that ecstatic look on his face that you can't talk to. Maybe it's going to be perfectly all right, but I hate 1942. I think I'll hate 1942 till I die, just on general principles.
Why does Boo Boo hate 1942? From the letter we get that maybe Seymour is sick (we don't know about his attempt at suicide until later...) but one gets the impression that there may be more going on with Beatrice as well. Will have to see what I might have overlooked in my first read that would tell me why she doesn't like 1942.
According to Wikipedia, here are some of the events which had occurred from January through May of 1942:
February
February 2 – WWII: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs an executive order directing the internment of Japanese Americans and the seizure of their property.
February 10 – In the early hours of the morning the SS Normandie capsizes at pier 88 in New York City.
February 22 – WWII: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defense of the nation collapses.
February 24 – Propaganda: The Voice of America begins broadcasting.
March
March 9 – WWII: Executive order 9082 (February 28, 1942) reorganizes the United States Army into three major commands: Army Ground Forces, Army Air Forces, and Services of Supply, later redesignated Army Service Forces.
March 28 – The Battle of Midway.
April
April 13 – The FCC's minimum programming time required of TV stations is cut from 15 hours to 4 hours a week during the war.
April 15 – WWII: King George VI awards the George Cross to Malta (from January 1 to July 24, there is only one 24-hour period during which no bombs fall on this tiny island).
May
May 15 – WWII: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
...to be continued...
The next part of "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" is a letter from Boo Boo to Buddy. In it she tells Buddy that Seymour will be getting married, that no one else can go (mostly due to various and sundry duties related to the war effort) and relays her (unfavorable) opinion of Seymour's bride to be (who we find out later is a woman named Muriel).
Buddy notes that the letter is undated but does his best to give us an approximate date of May 22nd or 3rd.
Boo Boo says:
[Seymour] weighs about as much as a cat and he has that ecstatic look on his face that you can't talk to. Maybe it's going to be perfectly all right, but I hate 1942. I think I'll hate 1942 till I die, just on general principles.
Why does Boo Boo hate 1942? From the letter we get that maybe Seymour is sick (we don't know about his attempt at suicide until later...) but one gets the impression that there may be more going on with Beatrice as well. Will have to see what I might have overlooked in my first read that would tell me why she doesn't like 1942.
According to Wikipedia, here are some of the events which had occurred from January through May of 1942:
February
February 2 – WWII: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt signs an executive order directing the internment of Japanese Americans and the seizure of their property.
February 10 – In the early hours of the morning the SS Normandie capsizes at pier 88 in New York City.
February 22 – WWII: President Franklin Delano Roosevelt orders General Douglas MacArthur out of the Philippines as American defense of the nation collapses.
February 24 – Propaganda: The Voice of America begins broadcasting.
March
March 9 – WWII: Executive order 9082 (February 28, 1942) reorganizes the United States Army into three major commands: Army Ground Forces, Army Air Forces, and Services of Supply, later redesignated Army Service Forces.
March 28 – The Battle of Midway.
April
April 13 – The FCC's minimum programming time required of TV stations is cut from 15 hours to 4 hours a week during the war.
April 15 – WWII: King George VI awards the George Cross to Malta (from January 1 to July 24, there is only one 24-hour period during which no bombs fall on this tiny island).
May
May 15 – WWII: In the United States, a bill creating the Women's Auxiliary Army Corps (WAAC) is signed into law.
...to be continued...
An Important Note
On page 8 of my copy of "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters" Buddy tells us that he is pretty exclusively concerned with Seymour's story. This probably shouldn't be a shock as the book also includes, "Seymour An Introduction" but Buddy adds that Seymour was in the Air Force (then still the Air Corps) and that he was probably (emphasis Salinger's) the "acting company clerk." [Incidentally, this detail has some ambiguity as the Air Corps itself began to serve under the Army Air Forces in 1941.]
We also learn that he was not a prolific letter writer. Since later in the novella, Seymour's diary is such an important part of the story, I find this an odd contradiction.
Buddy says he hasn't had more than five letters from Seymour in his whole life, and he is speaking AFTER Seymour's death.
In fact the narrative time of the novella is 1955 after Seymour's suicide and the completion of the war. Unfortunately, this detail is omitted from the Glass Family Chronology
...to be continued...
We also learn that he was not a prolific letter writer. Since later in the novella, Seymour's diary is such an important part of the story, I find this an odd contradiction.
Buddy says he hasn't had more than five letters from Seymour in his whole life, and he is speaking AFTER Seymour's death.
In fact the narrative time of the novella is 1955 after Seymour's suicide and the completion of the war. Unfortunately, this detail is omitted from the Glass Family Chronology
...to be continued...
Tuesday, May 19, 2009
Seymour reads to Franny
So, it appears I have already skipped over a particularly important part of the opening pages of the story. On page 4 of my library copy, Seymour reads to his ten month old sister Franny. When Buddy challenges him on this, he quips, "They have ears. They can hear."
Sidebar: Is this the innocent reader Salinger is searching for, one who has ears, who will listen attentively without saying or thinking anything in particular? Perhaps that's not me at all if I am responding to the text as I read it... hmmmmmm.
The story that Seymour reads Franny is a Taoist fable of sorts, about a man chooosing horses. I am not sure if this is a real story that exists in Eastern Literature which Salinger is reprinting, or if he himself has invented it. It seems to be a real Tao fable, but the characters in the original fable do not appear to be real individuals...
Sidebar: A Google search for "jd salinger taoism" reveals a Google Book Search result entitled "Letters to J. D. Salinger," from University of Wisconsin Press. It's an interesting book with a neat cover (an abandoned mailbox with Salinger's name on it). The letter that comes up on the results page is from pages 121-131 and written by Gerald Rosen who has a book of his own "Zen and the Art of J. D. Salinger" (Rosen says he was influenced by both Salinger and Jack Kerouac (sp?... gods, I can never remember how to spell his name!) Anyway, looks like it may be helpful as Rosen appears to have a better understanding of Eastern Philiosophy than I do, of course that's probably true of nearly anyone as I know nothing about it whatsoever. Ok, this sidebar is getting too long, anyway, looks like the book is out of print, but I will see if I can find a used copy somewhere. Oh, also in the letter, he compares Salinger to Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, not sure that I agree but I haven't read enough of these authors, or of Salinger to make that judgement, MUST STOP GETTING AHEAD OF MYSELF!!!
The story Seymour read to Franny that night, by flashlight, was a favorite of his, a Taoist tale. To this day, Franny swears that she remembers Seymour reading it to her:
Duke Mu of Chin said to Po Lo: 'You are now advanced in years. Is there any member of your family whom I could employ to look for horses in your stead?' Po Lo replied: 'A good horse can be picked out by its general build and appearance. But the superlative horse - one that raises no dust and leaves no tracks - is something evanescent and fleeting, elusive as thin air. The talents of my sons lie on a lower plane altogether; they call tell a good horse when they see one, but they cannot tell a superlative horse. I have a friend, however, one Chin-fang Kao, a hawker of fuel and vegetables, who in things appertaining to horses is nowise my inferior. Pray see him.'
Duke Mu did so, and subsequently dispatched him on the quest for a steed. Three months later, he returned with the news that he had found one. 'It is now in Shach'iu,' he added.' What kind of a horse is it?' asked the Duke. 'Oh, it is a dun-colored mare,' was the reply. However, someone being sent to fetch it, the animal turned out to be a coal-black stallion! Much displeased, the Duke sent for Po Lo. 'That friend of yours,' he said, 'whom I commissioned to look for a horse, has made a fine mess of it. Why, he cannot even distinguish a beast's color or sex! What on earth can he know about horses?' Po Lo heaved a sigh of satisfaction. 'Has he really got as far as that?' he cried. 'Ah, then he is worth ten thousand of me put together. There is no comparison between us. What Kao keeps in view is the spiritual mechanism. In making sure of the essential, he forgets the homely details; intent on the inward qualities, he loses sight of the external. He sees what he wants to see, and not what he does not want to see. He looks at the things he ought to look at, and neglects those that need not be looked at. So clever a judge of horses is Kao, that he has it in him to judge something better than horses.'
When the horse arrived, it turned out indeed to be a superlative animal.
I've reproduced the tale here not just because I invariably go out of my way to recommend a good prose pacifier to parents or older brothers of ten-month-old babies but for quite another reason.
From: "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters"
Sidebar: I cannot find a "Duke Mu of Chin" but I did find a Wikipedia entry for "Duke Mu of Qin"... I think they may be one and the same...? Wow, showing my ignorance fast here! Need to find someone who knows something about Tao!
Since the narrator tells us that the bridegroom (who is Seymour) has died as of 1955 and relates, "Undoubtedly, though, what I'm really getting at is this: Since the bridegroom's permanent retirement from the scene, I haven't been able to think of anybody whom I'd care to send out to look for horses in his stead." I assume we are meant to associate Seymour with Chin-fang Kao's qualities which I have highlighted above? So far, having read only this story I cannot say that I identify Seymour so much with these qualities though he definitely appears to have an ability to read people ... more on that when we get into his bride and her mother.
What does this say for Buddy? Is he lonely at this point in his life and reflecting back on Seymour? Maybe I will know more after "Seymour An Intorduction"... I guess I kind of see Buddy serving as Salinger’s persona in some ways.
...to be continued...
Sidebar: Is this the innocent reader Salinger is searching for, one who has ears, who will listen attentively without saying or thinking anything in particular? Perhaps that's not me at all if I am responding to the text as I read it... hmmmmmm.
The story that Seymour reads Franny is a Taoist fable of sorts, about a man chooosing horses. I am not sure if this is a real story that exists in Eastern Literature which Salinger is reprinting, or if he himself has invented it. It seems to be a real Tao fable, but the characters in the original fable do not appear to be real individuals...
Sidebar: A Google search for "jd salinger taoism" reveals a Google Book Search result entitled "Letters to J. D. Salinger," from University of Wisconsin Press. It's an interesting book with a neat cover (an abandoned mailbox with Salinger's name on it). The letter that comes up on the results page is from pages 121-131 and written by Gerald Rosen who has a book of his own "Zen and the Art of J. D. Salinger" (Rosen says he was influenced by both Salinger and Jack Kerouac (sp?... gods, I can never remember how to spell his name!) Anyway, looks like it may be helpful as Rosen appears to have a better understanding of Eastern Philiosophy than I do, of course that's probably true of nearly anyone as I know nothing about it whatsoever. Ok, this sidebar is getting too long, anyway, looks like the book is out of print, but I will see if I can find a used copy somewhere. Oh, also in the letter, he compares Salinger to Tolstoy and Dostoyevsky, not sure that I agree but I haven't read enough of these authors, or of Salinger to make that judgement, MUST STOP GETTING AHEAD OF MYSELF!!!
The story Seymour read to Franny that night, by flashlight, was a favorite of his, a Taoist tale. To this day, Franny swears that she remembers Seymour reading it to her:
Duke Mu of Chin said to Po Lo: 'You are now advanced in years. Is there any member of your family whom I could employ to look for horses in your stead?' Po Lo replied: 'A good horse can be picked out by its general build and appearance. But the superlative horse - one that raises no dust and leaves no tracks - is something evanescent and fleeting, elusive as thin air. The talents of my sons lie on a lower plane altogether; they call tell a good horse when they see one, but they cannot tell a superlative horse. I have a friend, however, one Chin-fang Kao, a hawker of fuel and vegetables, who in things appertaining to horses is nowise my inferior. Pray see him.'
Duke Mu did so, and subsequently dispatched him on the quest for a steed. Three months later, he returned with the news that he had found one. 'It is now in Shach'iu,' he added.' What kind of a horse is it?' asked the Duke. 'Oh, it is a dun-colored mare,' was the reply. However, someone being sent to fetch it, the animal turned out to be a coal-black stallion! Much displeased, the Duke sent for Po Lo. 'That friend of yours,' he said, 'whom I commissioned to look for a horse, has made a fine mess of it. Why, he cannot even distinguish a beast's color or sex! What on earth can he know about horses?' Po Lo heaved a sigh of satisfaction. 'Has he really got as far as that?' he cried. 'Ah, then he is worth ten thousand of me put together. There is no comparison between us. What Kao keeps in view is the spiritual mechanism. In making sure of the essential, he forgets the homely details; intent on the inward qualities, he loses sight of the external. He sees what he wants to see, and not what he does not want to see. He looks at the things he ought to look at, and neglects those that need not be looked at. So clever a judge of horses is Kao, that he has it in him to judge something better than horses.'
When the horse arrived, it turned out indeed to be a superlative animal.
I've reproduced the tale here not just because I invariably go out of my way to recommend a good prose pacifier to parents or older brothers of ten-month-old babies but for quite another reason.
From: "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters"
Sidebar: I cannot find a "Duke Mu of Chin" but I did find a Wikipedia entry for "Duke Mu of Qin"... I think they may be one and the same...? Wow, showing my ignorance fast here! Need to find someone who knows something about Tao!
Since the narrator tells us that the bridegroom (who is Seymour) has died as of 1955 and relates, "Undoubtedly, though, what I'm really getting at is this: Since the bridegroom's permanent retirement from the scene, I haven't been able to think of anybody whom I'd care to send out to look for horses in his stead." I assume we are meant to associate Seymour with Chin-fang Kao's qualities which I have highlighted above? So far, having read only this story I cannot say that I identify Seymour so much with these qualities though he definitely appears to have an ability to read people ... more on that when we get into his bride and her mother.
What does this say for Buddy? Is he lonely at this point in his life and reflecting back on Seymour? Maybe I will know more after "Seymour An Intorduction"... I guess I kind of see Buddy serving as Salinger’s persona in some ways.
...to be continued...
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