Once a Week Won't Kill You

I don't think this story is as well constructed as some of Salinger's others. I had trouble following the dialogue in the beginning. I know Salinger likes to give that 'tip of the iceberg' impression, but I was on pretty unsteady ground as a first time reader of the story. I liked the sentiment and the ending, and for that matter the character descriptions, but the story overall wasn't a great success.

Zooey (opening)

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.

Criticism on Franny and Zooey

Critical Reception Information from eNotes

The New York Review of Books - Justice to JD Salinger

Updike and Salinger: A Literary incident

An MLA IB Search for "Zooey" (in English, and peer-reviewed) yielded fewer results than expected though additional items were attainable on the web and if looking through Dissertation Abstracts.

One article by Alfred Kazin entitled "JD Salinger: Everybody's Favorite" is cited by 5 others on Google Scholar:

[BOOK] In Search of JD Salinger: A Writing Life
I Hamilton - 1988 - Random House Inc
Cited by 22 - Related articles - All 2 versions

[BOOK] Die Initiationsreise: Studien zum Jugendlichen Helden im modernen amerikanischen Roman, …
P Freese - 1971 - K. Wachholtz
Cited by 1 - Related articles - Library Search - All 2 versions

[CITATION] " Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters
B Glass - A Reader's Guide to JD Salinger, 2002 - Greenwood Press
Related articles

[BOOK] Dong Wu wen shi xue bao
東吳大學 - 1978 - 東吳大學
Related articles - All 2 versions

[BOOK] Kritische Rezeption und stilistische Interpretation von JD Salingers Erzählprosa: Studien …
K Ortseifen - 1979 - Peter Lang Publishing
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Seymour Christ

Someone in class (Nick, was it you?) mentioned the idea of Seymour Glass as a Christ figure and something about the references to marks on the hands and feet make me think this true. However, my mind also harkens to the Matron of Honor's (Edie's) circlet of forget-me-nots(crown of thorns) or the "suffering" of the characters trapped inside the hot car in "Raise High..." is there something Christlike in all of Salinger's characters or am I just feeling particularly hopeful today?

Sybil Carpenter and "A Perfect Day for Bananafish"

I posted the following on our course Blackboard site and came across some really interesting parallels between the scene with Seymour and Sybil on the beach and the myth of Sybil:

re: Alternative Readings of Bananafish

I'd like to know if anyone had any alternative readings of Bananafish. As we have already discussed the narrator at least, if not also Seymour is eschewing materialism. But I think this interpretation alone leaves something to be desired. There is clearly a lot going on in the story, more than the critique on commercialization... There does seem to be something remarkably and oddly sexual about the scene between Sybil and Seymour, however this attraction between them might be better described as a reciprocal indulgence in childlike fantasy. Seymour is the one who sends Sybil off on the quest for the fictitious bananafish. And he clearly is indulging in a bit of escapism, the talk about Little Black Sambo and the bit about chewing on candles...

There is also the post-war issue addressed in numerous other works. I am just wondering if anyone has any other ideas about the story??

*PS Some more information on the name Sybil: http://www.maicar.com/GML/Sibyl6Cumaean.html
In this story Aeneas flatters Sybil (Sharon Lipshutz) in order to obtain passage to the Underworld. Sybil leads Aeneas to the Underworld. At this point, Aeneas is a war hero (Seymour!) and he has to retrieve the Golden Bough (Whirlywood, Connecticuit) ["You have no idea how clear that makes everything!"] before entering the Underworld. They have to pass Cerberus of course (the little Canadian bull dog in the lobby) and Sybil explains that getting into the Underworld is easy, it is getting out that is hard (the Bananafish dying for lack of getting out of the hole).