Subject: Re: Seymour's yellow hand
From: Matt Kozusko (mkozusko@virtual.park.uga.edu)
Date: Sat Apr 05 1997 - 14:50:23 GMT
On Sat, 5 Apr 1997 DCSpohr@aol.com wrote:
> In a message dated 97-04-03 23:49:49 EST, you write:
>
> << "Teddy" is an undisguised rewriting of "Bananafish," and as such, it
> provides some clues about Seymour's suicide, as Salinger saw it five years
> (exactly five years, to the publication date) later. >>
>
> Publishing dates have nothing to do with when the story was written. How do
> you know which was written or which was an idea first?
Publishing dates do indeed have something to do with when a story is
written. But my point here is that Salinger published--or had published,
or allowed to be published--"Teddy" precisely five years after
"Bananafish," and in two stories so intimately related, such a connection
should not go unnoticed. Two things have the potential to complicate the
veracity of my proposal: 1) Salinger could possibly have had no say
whatsoever in which issue _The New Yorker_ chose to publish his story.
They may very well have decided against Salinger's whishes to publish
"Teddy" on so conspicuous a date. He may actively have ought to avert
such a situation. But I do not think so. Salinger's stories were a
valuable commodity in 1953, and _The New Yorker_, inscrutable publication
that it is, was probably happy to accomodate the requests of this
particular writer. _The New Yorker_ bought "A Slight Rebellion Off
Madison" in 1941 but did not publish it until 1946. I suggest that the
magazine is not in the same position relative to Salinger in 1953.
2) Salinger could have been entirely unaware of the conspicuous parallel
he was inadvertantly creating by allowing "Teddy" to be published five
years (again, to the day, and in the same magazine) after "Bananafish,"
and the whole thing could be a matter of extraordinary coincidence.
Again, though, I do not think so. Regardless of when he wrote or
conceived "Teddy," he did have something--probably a lot--to do with when
it was presented to the reading public. Salinger had (still has, of
course) a deep interest/investment in the public reception of his
fiction--where it is published, when it is published, and so forth. It
seems to me very unlikely that he couldhave missed the significance of Jan
31, 1953 relative to Jan 31, 1948, given the two stories involved.
Arguing the actual conception of "Teddy" and "Bananafish" is fairly
complex, but a cursory glance at the progression of particular characters
and themes in Salinger's work indicates fairly clearly that "Bananafish"
came first. It grows quite naturally out of the "misunderstood
artist-genius" of the early stories (Ray Ford, Varioni, in particular),
whereas "Teddy" derives primarily from the "misunderstood
aesthete-poet-genius-saint of the later Glass stories (the distinction
could be made more clear; I'll work on it).
matt
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mkozusko@virtual.park.uga.edu
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