Subject: Re: Why Buddy?
From: LR Pearson, Arts 99 (lp9616@bristol.ac.uk)
Date: Tue Apr 24 2001 - 10:57:53 GMT
I have never ever thought that Buddy might commit suicide at the end of
'Seymour' might commit suicide. I think he is really wuite at peace by
that point. I feel, at the end, as though his 'Just go to bed, now'
signifies the fact that he has worked out many of his contradictory
feeling surrounding Seymour and feels he can rest. He as at peace in a
much less drastic sense, to me. But then, I do tend to have rather a
sunny outlook on most things which could be read either one way or the
other. A natural optimist!
Love, Lucy-Ruth
On 24 Apr 2001 05:52:01 -0000 Cecilia Baader <cbaader@cubsmvp.com>
wrote:
> Jive Monkey <monkey_jive@hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> >It's something about the tone of the book, something in the air, so to
> >speak. He mentions taking a bloodbath, and the last line always makes me
> >think of death: "Just go to bed, now. Quickly. Quickly and slowly."
>
> Oh. Yes, I suppose that I can see that. I'd always taken those lines more as a getting a hold of himself. Like he'd let himself go as he wrote "Seymour: an Introduction" and was getting himself back in hand. Certainly he's borderline as he writes it, always stopping to sleep or think. And I think his insertion of self into it is a clear indication that this is just as much about Buddy as it is about Seymour.
>
> I love that story.
>
> >Also the revelation that the Seymour in "Bananafish" is really more Buddy
> >than Seymour. It's obviously been jds' intent that Buddy was the one
> >writing all of these stories, and so I always wonder how much of it is
> >supposed to be "autobiographical," or at least a little cock-eyed. For
> >instance, I've seen some debate here and there about Sgt X, and who he may
> >be, about how he can't be Buddy or Seymour because of his age, or whatever,
> >but that doesn't mean he doesn't have some Buddy in him, if jds "pretended"
> >to be Buddy when he wrote the story. Anyway, I'm starting to confuse
> >myself, so I'll leave it at that.
>
> No, I know what you're saying, as I've said something similar on more than one occasion. I've always felt that the story that Buddy had to tell is his own. It's the same old thing they ask every writer: how much of this is you? Is this at all autobiographical? Hemingway had a great answer for it. He said that if it's at all true, it all comes from somewhere deep within. And I think that the Glass stories are the truest things I've ever read. Ergo, they're about Buddy. Every word in them is Buddy. But, you have to realize, part of Buddy is Seymour. And "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" is what Buddy/Salinger was able to create when he was still angry and hated the world for taking away his brother. And "Seymour: an Introduction" is, I think, what he was able to create when he figured out how to love it again.
>
> Or something like that.
>
> Regards,
> Cecilia.
>
>
>
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LR Pearson, Arts 99
lp9616@bristol.ac.uk
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