Mixing memory and desire

Jonathan Moritz (Jonathan.Moritz@utas.edu.au)
Fri, 15 Aug 1997 13:43:11 +1000

What views do Salinger's characters hold about the importance of memory?
Take for example, Buddy's photographic memory, Zooey's comments about a
freak and compulsively remembering to say the sacred vows, or Seymour's
Eliot quote of about how that name comes up, mixing memory and desire. Or,
particularly, the bananafish as us bloated, burdened with memories...  The
following quote comes from a critical article by Wiegand, "The cures for
Banana Fever", in the Grunwald book.
__________
What is unbearable is not that some people are bad, but that experience is
fleeting.  Everything must be retained.  The image Holden has for himself
of being "the catcher in the rye" is the perfect metaphor for this
objective.  He wants to guard the children from falling off the edge of the
rye field; likewise he tries to guard each experience from falling into
oblivion.
__________

Any comments here?? Are Salinger's children spontaneous and unburdened by
such memories?

One response from a friend to this topic (without Salinger reference) was:
 I think that reflecting on the past and anticipating the future lets us
hope and teaches us to appreciate.  If we were to live solely in and for
the moment we would have no true appreciation of it, that is no comparative
points.  I don't think this detracts from spontaneity or immediacy at all -
I think it adds another
dimension to it.  It deepens our sense of that moment and then we get to
reflect back on it too.


______________________________________
        Jonathan Moritz
        School of Education (Hobart),  University of Tasmania
        GPO Box 252-66, Hobart TAS 7001, AUSTRALIA
        Telephone  (03) 62 26 2545,  Fax  (03) 62 26 2569

        WWW (Working again!!):
        http://www2.educ.utas.edu.au/~Jonathan.Moritz/