Subject: A Very Consequential Party, 1926
From: Matthew Jones (columnatedruinsdomino@hotmail.com)
Date: Mon Aug 13 2001 - 08:50:52 GMT
I mentioned a few days back that I had recently dug out Eberhard Alsen's
study "Salinger's Glass Stories as a Composite Novel" (Whitson, NY, 1983). I
made a few notes and observations while studying it, which led me to re-read
my June 19, 1965 issue of the New Yorker for the first time in ages [my
apologies if I'm boasting that I have an original copy of the
magazine....actually two!]. It's a damned good story, no matter what the
detractors say. My love for J.D. Salinger, via his contributions, is an
absolute certainty!
Firstly, as Will Hochman declared, Alsen's is an excellent analysis. I
heartily recommend it to JDS readers who are after an in-depth exploration
of the religious aspects of the stories. I hope the book is still in print,
as it certainly deserves to be.
Secondly, I'll move on to some of the questions that are raised by Alsen's
study. A principle concern of mine (and Alsen) is "Do we have all of the
Seymour stories?" [Note that I say "Seymour" stories, and not "Glass"
stories]. There is that famous, tantalizing reference in Buddy's 'Hapworth'
introduction to another story our narrator is working on "about a party, a
very consequential party, that she [Bessie] and Seymour and my father and I
all went to one night in 1926" (don't forget other references to the party
within the text of Seymour's letter!). Alsen reports that after 'Hapworth',
Salinger apparently submitted another story to the New Yorker, only to
withdraw it at the last moment (p. 232). If the story in question was 'A
Very Consequential Party', there could be several explanations for its
non-appearance:
1) Salinger simply stopped publishing for personal reasons, leaving this
story, which might have been paired with 'Hapworth' as the third of the
Seymour books, unpublished, and the Seymour saga unavailable in its
entirety.
2) Salinger withdrew it, as Alsen speculates, because "he realized that 'A
Perfect Day For Bananafish' makes a better companion story for 'Hapworth'"
(p. 232). I find this hard to swallow if Alsen is proposing that 'APDFB' and
'Hapworth' were to be paired together in book form like 'Roofbeam'/'Seymour'
and 'Franny'/'Zooey', not only because of the obvious differences in style,
but also because 'APDFB' had already appeared in 'Nine Stories'. It just
doesn't make sense!
3) Alternatively, Alsen might just mean that Salinger changed his mind about
'A Very Consequential Party' (if it ever really existed) and decided
'Hapworth' stands alone without a companion story, and the Seymour saga is
complete in the six main published stories. His silence has prevented his
readers from ascertaining whether this is true.
One thing to remember is that Alsen's book was published in 1983, before the
'Hapworth' debacle in 1997. Even though it appears Salinger has pulled the
plug on any plans to issue the story in book form, we now know that Salinger
has considered publishing 'Hapworth' as a stand-alone work, without a
companion story ('a very consequential party'?) in the style of the other
Seymour paired novellas. To me, this lends more credence to explanation 3.
More importantly, Alsen makes a strong argument that the published Seymour
stories, in the original form of a "composite novel", tell the complete saga
of Seymour's spiritual quest and Buddy's development as a writer. Hmmm. Let
me run with this. If the Seymour story is complete, I have to judge how
effective the six stories work together. John Updike's criticisms of the
inconsistancy of Franny's character in 'Franny' and 'Zooey' are valid in
some ways. The nagging feeling I experienced when I first re-read 'F&Z' in
the early sixties was that the divergent styles of the two stories sat
together a little uneasily. The inconsistancy probably arose from Salinger
having not sufficiently planned his Seymour saga at the time of publishing
'Franny' in 1955 (perhaps that delightful creature wasn't originally meant
to be a Glass?).
Now, having read 'F&Z' multiple times over the last 40 years, I feel that
JDS could have contributed to the overall consistancy of the saga by
re-structuring those two stories into a more coherent overall narrative,
perhaps including a Buddy introduction for 'Franny', and altering those
little aspects of characterisation that may not be consistant [Forgive this
old and unspectacular wannabe for having the gall to suggest alterations to
your work, JDS! I am only rambling, I assure you!].
Naturally, all this is mere speculation. On the question of completeness, it
is not easy to come away from the six main Seymour stories and feel
resolution. Salinger has not made it easy on the reader. Years of living
with the stories have not led me to conclude that the story of Seymour is
over, or that we can yet fully understand the motives for his suicide.
Perhaps this is just a desperate wish that JDS will unlease a pile of new
Seymour stories one day? I'm pretty certain if there is anything published
posthumously, there will be more Glass stories, perhaps focusing on the
other children. Or maybe we may find out what was so consequential about 'A
Very Consequential Party' in 1926?
[As an amusing afternote, my son once asked me to write him a list of books
I would like to receive for future birthdays, Christmases, etc. Rolling my
eyes at my son's typical lack of imagination, I sent him the following list:
J.D. Salinger's "Walt & Waker", the latter about life in the clergy, and the
former the greatest-ever WWII novel! The following Christmas he sent me a
bound book of blank paper (very funny!). Now I shall request 'A Very
Consequential Party' and JDS' autobiography, which will explain
EVERYTHING!].
My infinite apologies for taking up such an inordinate amount of your time
and bandwidth, and for the excessive use of exclamation marks. Too much
'Hapworth' tonight!
Matthew Jones.
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