Fw: Duke Mu
patrick flaherty (pfkw@email.msn.com)
Wed, 12 Aug 1998 15:12:59 -0400
-----Original Message-----
From: patrick flaherty <pfkw@email.msn.com>
To: bananafish@lists.nyu <bananafish@lists.nyu>
Date: Wednesday, August 12, 1998 10:39 AM
Subject: Duke Mu
>I just re-read _Raise High The Room Beam_ yesterday. Here are a few
>questions/observations for ya'll: The old man, Muriel's mother's uncle, is
>such a wonderful character, almost supernatural, in a sense. I cannot help
>feeling that there MUST be a connection between him and the guy who picks
>out the horse in the story that Seymours reads to Franny in her crib. The
>man in the story ". . . has it in him to judge something better than
>horses." It seems to me that the old man has this same quality. Any ideas
>that would add to my "beginning of a thought" (haven't had enough coffee
>yet) Also, with all the allusions to feet being thrown around, here's
mine:
>The old man's feet do not touch the floor of the car. Would anyone care to
>make anything of that?
>
>Another question: Buddy writes, at the story's conclusion that the old
>man's "cigar end should have been forwarded on to Seymour. . . with a blank
>sheet of paper enclosed, by way of explanation." I know this somehow must
>connect ot the Duke Mu story, somehow. Again, not enough coffee, I guess.
>A little help?
>
>Lastly, an observation. It seems to me that if Salinger is a member of
this
>list, as some have recently suggested, that he would be rather upset with
>the whole idea of what we are doing. Anyone on the list is not "reading
and
>running" and, therefore, is not among the "amateur reader(s)" whom he
>dedicated _RHTRBC_ and _S:AI_. To support this idea, he (Buddy) says of
the
>old man that "No one's indifference has ever been such a comfort to me."
>We, as members of this list, are being everything but indifferent. Peace.
>
>Patrick
>
>pfkw@msn.com
>
>
>