Re: a watching brief

Sundeep Dougal (holden@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in)
Sat, 08 Aug 1998 14:34:43 +0500 (GMT+0500) 

> Salinger book (as if the concept of a future Salinger book is not kind of
> funny in itself...) might be titled
> "Catch Her in the Sack".

:-)
 
Hmmm, I have seen it listed as _Catch Her In The Rye_ at least in one
library listing and one newspaper account (the old, not the future book).
The former, I am sure, was the result of playfulness on somebody's part,
but the latter I am inclined to believe was not deliberate.
 
But, then, you do have "serious" commentators very consciously deciding to
interpret it just thus in scholarly articles, purportedly
"psycho-analysing"  Holden Caulfield and propounding the view that
Salinger is suggesting Holden's incestuous longings for Phoebe and his
attempts to repress and camouflage them. It would have been hilarious had
it been not so pathetic. Wait, let me dig one out that has stayed in my
memory: 
 
The Psychological Structure of the C I T R, James Bryan, in Critical
Essays on Salinger's C I T R, Joel Solzberg Ed.
 
I am tempted to quote at least a bit from it to provide the overall
flavor:
 
	"Her [Phoebe's] insistence drives him to the loveliest -- and most
	sinister -- fantasy in the novel:
 
	""You know that song 'If a body catch a body comin' through
	the rye'? I'd like--"
		
	""It's 'If a body _meet_ a body coming through the rye!'" 
	old Phoebe said.
 
	"[...] As Phoebe implies, however, the song is about romance not
	romanticism. Because he has to, Holden has substituted a messianic
	motive for the true, erotic one. [...]"
 
And so on and so forth, making much of phrases such as "Phoebe jumped
right back in bed and got under the covers" and Holden "sat down next to
her on the bed again. . .sort of out of breath"! 
 
There is plenty more in this vein and I was reminded of it last night
while watching Six Degrees of Separation partially again as it happened to
be on one of the channels. 
 
So the Her to Catch is Phoebe, of course!
 
Sonny 

(Malcs, it's okay, lots of friends and family end up spelling it _Sunny_
whereas some have most memorably suggested that _Soony_ would perhaps be
an even better spelling) 

[_That_ still cracks me up. Is Brian Fenton still on the list?]
 
Now I am off to listen to Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds and plumb it for
some _real_ meaning this time.