Subject: Re: Why Buddy?
From: Cecilia Baader (cbaader@cubsmvp.com)
Date: Tue Apr 24 2001 - 01:52:01 GMT
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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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b25 : Thu May 17 2001 - 17:47:53 GMT