Re: Raise High the Roof

Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Mon, 06 Apr 1998 02:12:41 -0400

> Brendan, you may be interested in an essay from Studies in Short Fiction
> by Eberhard Alsen called "RHTRBC and the Amateur Reader." Alsen works from
> the claim that RHTRBC is "the most story-like" of salinger's later, longer
> fiction as well. will

Good advice.  I, too, LOVE the story.  It manages to incorporate Glass tics
-- some of them, the least distracting (though I confess that I love THOSE
ELEMENTS too, when I'm in that mood) -- and also be lovable and deeply
evocative of a time and place that is long gone.

And it shows that no matter how "coming apart at the seams" Salinger seems
to be in his later work, he could still write a tight, professional, deeply
moving story.  Which is why this one holds up so well after many, many
readings.  It's life-affirming without sounding like a lecture.  And it
shows us that the author has not forgotten how to create memorable
characters and situations.

--tim (glad to be talking about the work again, and not the peripherals)