Subject: Re: A Perfect Day for a Bananafish-Post
Smmrs@aol.com
Date: Wed Apr 05 2000 - 22:22:59 EDT
Interesting. For me the fact that Muriel was 'for a ringing phone dropped exactly nothing' got me. I really see this twenty-something knockout beuty (and whoever mentioned Caneron Diaz on this list was dead-on)
My question is what was Seymour doing on the beach, the secluded end no less- wit this towel over his face. He was probably harnessing the power of the sun.
-smmrs
In a message dated Sun, 2 Apr 2000 2:27:25 PM Eastern Daylight Time, Mattis Fishman <mattis@argoscomp.com> writes:
> Hello friends,
>
> Well,itlooks like that time again.Perhaps it is the Spring thaw
> that ends somany forms of hibernation(but has not cured my
> broken space bar, sorry),perhaps it was the quiet period on the
> list (just broken by Steven's fine post and a guest appearance
> by old Rainer,courtesy of Paul M.) which beckons like a bottle
> to an alchoholic, perhaps it'sanotherattack of bananafever.
> Your guess is as good a mine, better probably,if you believe
> as I do the philosophical dictum I espoused recently- you know me
> better than I do myself.
>
> Anyway, it'stime foranother of those reader response posts that
> tackle"APerfect Day for Banafish" according to a particular mood
> (and I do hope this time to get through this, this time with a mimimum of
> twinkliness and a maximum of gallantry).I imagine that our recent
> joinees have gathered by now that this is not the first, second,
> or third post I have spewed forth on this subject, and that the
> rest of you have got your tracingpaper and red pens out so that you
> can make corrections to my primitive rendition of a pilgrim soul
> and send them to me.Please. (And those of you who are worried that I
> might say something *very* stupid here, relax,though inour little soap
> opera I am sorry to spoil the suspense).
>
> Of course,I have my doubts here if I willmake it to the end of this
> post,just as Seymour never made it from the beach to his wife's
> bedside with anything more than a glance. This is because while
> happiness and joy may be solid and liquid, that moresubtle state
> of mind, icon ofpoets and bane of seventh graders, that four letter
> word to which a young man'sthoughts are *always* turned, is a vapor.
> But let me assure you (after all the talk about Catcher editions),
> that I have the copyrighted Kozusko edition of APFBF, with the last
> line whited out, and so suicide will not be the issue here.
>
> By reader response,I hope you have gathered that some recent experience
> has altered the mirror I look into when read the story at hand.
> (aside to anyone who mightremember: yes I have used all of these
> figures of speech before, I am not too proud to admit). That
> experience, I amhappy to say is a very pleasant one. It wassimply
> that I noticed that the admiration and appreciation I have for someone
> with whom I had been merely acquainted has transformed itself against
> my will into a preoccupation that concerns me about 20hours a day.
> Oh,I know it cannot be sustained at this level, but I hope to be able
> to take advantage of this new brightness to search into some corners
> while the candle still shines. That pretty much sums up the true
> confessions for this episode (exhale, buddies), but the results of
> this investigation are what I found more interesting, and will eventually
> lead, I hope back to the story,or else I would simply sell this story
> to a bookstore on Eigth Ave (sorry, TimesSquare is cleaned up,folks).
>
> *****
>
> The Lab Notebooks of Malte Fishman:
> 1. 15 minutes after ingesting 750micrograms (oops! wrong experience there)
> Day of recognition minus one: I finds myself grinning like an idiot
> and waving to little girls in car windows -nothing unusual there.
> All the snippets of conversation on the sidewalk are about me:"I told
> him it is ridiculous". "well *I* would never do such a thing".
> conclusion: paranoia, nascent scizophenia?
>
> 2. Day of recognition: My wife appears even more beautiful to me.
> I smilemore, wash the dishes (well, I always do that) don't argue.
> Darned if she doesn'tsmile back more. surprise:I love her morethan ever
> with no thought of competition. conclusion: love is like kindling
> acandle from a candle, which does not in any way diminish the original
> flame.
>
> 3. Recognition plus one: The radio has become painful tolisten to.
> Every song is about a certain young woman...Even the announcers
> seem to knowwhat I'm thinking,though thankfully the ads are as banal
> as ever. The sunshine isa blessing, the birds my co-conspirators
> (or should I say co-conspiritors?)conclusion:banana fever
> [note: error analysis is being left as an exercise for the reader]
>
> *****
>
> So, there you have what I am sure is a very common experience,
> expressed in less than eloquent terms, but with a few smiles
> hopefully thrown in.
>
> But to get back to our story,I will simply rephrase the previous
> experience as a new perspective on the story (not, by the way,
> because that is the only context in which I view my new state ofmind,
> do I appear so objective and surgical? but because otherwise I look
> even stupider (yes, I'm asking for it) that I already do).
>
> It struck me that perhaps Seymour'sattack of banana fever was
> a rapidly progessing acute case, brought on in a predisposed individual
> by short series of events. That S.loved Muriel is not out of the question,
> even though we may have to go to the later diaries to support it, he
> did marry her. That he loved Sybil, in a very chaste sense, in an
> appreciation of innocence seems so true too, the kiss on the foot
> being the joyful expression of this sentiment.Yet, that moment, that
> recognitionof his love brought with it the magnification of all his
> related emotions,including his love for Muriel, and as it washed over him
> as the waves did to Sybil, he saw himself as a bananafish, where every
> sensory input resonated in the same pitch as his own love until he
> recognized the potential for his own inability to handle his feelings.
> As Sybil ran away without regret, he made his way inexorably toMuriel,
> and yet- and as I said,Icannot understand the suicide so perhapsit
> all falls apart here - he was never able to do more than glance
> (and I have looked in the mirror and seem that he glanced lovingly)
> at her before succumbing.
>
> This is really only trying to bring out one new point, namely
> that the love ofSybil and Muriel werecomplementary rather than contradictory,
> though from the raw data in the note books, you are free todraw your
> own conclusions.I certainly hope that I have not embarrassed you for
> my sake.
>
> Anyway, in that spirit of generosity I have described, I will borrow
> a page from Madhava and sign off,
>
> Love,
> Mattis
> p.s. by the way,I willprobably be unable, from the standpoint
> of time and energy to follow up on this, so please accept my
> apologies.
> -
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