Glass (and Me)
Michael Tharp (tharpm@agcs.com)
Mon, 03 Aug 1998 12:25:32 -0700
Hi. I just joined this group/list a few days ago (in fact it's the
only listserv group I've ever joined) and I'm absolutely thrilled by
the Glass discussion that's in progress.
A bit about me. A few weeks ago in the shower, out of nowhere came a
haunting memory of the Bananafish short story, which I had read at
least 20 years earlier. I decided it was time to read more about
Seymore. In one of my bookcases I found just what I was looking
for: the the 2-in-1 book _Raise High the Roof Beam Carpenters_ and
_Seymore: An Introduction_.
I found RHTRBC to be a wonderful little story and had a hard time
putting it down. I was a bit dismayed by the abruptness of the
ending though (more accurately, I was caught by surprise; I didn't
have the usual dirth of remaining pages to clue me in that the
story was coming to an end); I felt that JDS (or Buddy) (or I?) was
just warming up.
But it was SAI that really blew my mind. It could have been titled,
"Inside JD's Brain". (JD Salinger, not JD Hadden.) SAI is not even
remotely similar to RHTRBC; it is slow-moving, introspective (self-
indulgent might be a better word) and, for me, thoroughly enjoyable.
Several times in this story, Buddy had to clarify whether he was
addressing me, the reader, or himself, the writer. And at some
points, it seemed as if the writer was as baffled by what was written
as was the reader.
To JD Hadden: You've gotten some fascinating replies to your questions
that will no doubt provide some food for thought for some time to come
(as they will for me; I had in mind to post some questions which were
eerily similar to yours). One thing I can add. Finish SAI, and you'll
notice a gradual change in Buddy's style. First it becomes letter-like
("X hours have passed since...," "I'm sitting here at my desk...") and
then he starts taking the format to the ridiculous. He is clearly
teasing the reader and, quite possibly, himself.
Some of your other respondents phrased it more eloquently than I, but
there is clearly some interplay among the minds of JDS and Buddy and
Seymore. Moreover, in SAI, the reader is also brought in as an
accomplice. At times it feels like JDS' Buddy *is* the reader (or
perhaps A reader, for if he were THE reader, then who, or what, am I?
Chopped liver?).
But it's the teasing (I'll call it Salinger's) that clues me in that
at least some of the interplay (with all its inconsistencies) is
intentional, and that, surely, the Seymore stories are a good mix of
the autobiographical (self-exploration) and the imaginary.
BTW, I also did a double-take at Buddy's claim to authorship of
_A Perfect Day for Bananafish_). Having Buddy as the middleman
(between the reader and Seymore) does lend itself to some interesting
possibilities. Who's crazy? Seymore? Buddy? Salinger himself?
Perhaps it is we, the readers. After all, we are the ones who are
attempting at attach grand significance to that which may have
little significance. Is Buddy's claim to authorship just another
tease? Salinger has clearly left the proof to the reader.
I'm sure some of the Salinger scholars in this group are groaning at
the simpleminded ramblings of this Salinger neophyte (the only JDS
book I've read (yet) other than the aforementioned and _Nine Stories_
is _Catcher in the Rye_), but maybe I've added a hair of enlightenment
(or confusion) to this discussion. If nothing else, I've added my
share of parentheses.
Michael
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