RE: First Catcher memories?

PODESTA,Lesley (Lesley.PODESTA@deetya.gov.au)
Mon, 01 Dec 1997 09:35:23 +1000 

Thanks. I loved your post.
I think that there are a hell of a lot of people who can't sit in a bath
and read without metamorphising into Buddy. Especially when the water
gets cold.
LP
>----------
>From: 	Lagusta Pauline Yearwood[SMTP:ly001f@uhura.cc.rochester.edu]
>Sent: 	Saturday, 29 November 1997 7:14
>To: 	bananafish@lists.nyu.edu
>Subject: 	Re: First Catcher memories?
>
>
>> Susan Pearson wrote:
>> 
>> > I thought it was interesting what someone said about parts of JDS books
>> > that they read over and over again. I do that all the time and I was
>> > curious as to what parts other people read when they are feeling
>> > depressed or happy or they just want to lie in bed a little longer on a
>> > rainy Saturday with a good book. The part that I always turn to is
>> > Seymour's diary in "Raise High..." Reading that bit is like a chat with
>> > an old friend.
>
>hmm, i've been thinking about this thread off and on a bit. it is a lovely
>thing to think about, and it's made me feel very warm and happy
>towards other bananafish, remembering that all of you share something so
>special to me. do you remember when laura left the list because she
>couldn't talk about salinger because it was too personal, too close to the
>most sacred things in her heart? i really respected that, because i feel
>like that a lot too. when this list is stupid, and people fight and i'm
>reading posts that make me sigh and groan, i think of her and how it would
>hurt her and how it hurts me that these people who on one hand share
>something so incredibly sacred to me can be so annoying. 
>
>but, of course, that's life, that's the way it is with best friends,
>lovers, family. but the thing that connects us is not life experiences,
>not attraction or love, not blood, only one author. it's kind of amazing.
>
>but this is getting long. my computer is now next to my window and all i
>ever do anymore is look out the window at the green quads, the red brick
>buildings, the bare winter trees, and ramble ramble ramble. 
>
>anyway, i have 2 favorite parts of salinger:
>
>franny, when she's on the couch at the end of _F&Z_.  that last paragraph
>is so amazing...
>
>and yep, that letter in _Zooey_. i actually used to have 2 copies of
>_F&Z_; one to read out of the tub and an old falling apart, waterlogged
>yard-sale copy i read almost every time i took a bath. i'd rest the book
>on my knees, just like in the book, and read that letter pretending i was
>zooey and buddy was my brother. sometimes my mother (quite a salinger
>fan herself) would be outside, and since she knew what i was reading,
>she'd urge me to take a "washrag."  (weird family, mine..) then after I
>got out of the tub, i'd always look right into my eyes when looking into
>the mirror, because the eyes were "neutral territory,  a no man's land in
>a private war against narcissism he'd been fighting since he was six or
>seven years old." 
>
>well, now it's 20 minutes later, and i've been sitting here reading
>_F&Z_...
>
>the thing is, i know this isn't what salinger is about -- copying what his
>characters do -- and i have even a sneaking suspicion that he would frown
>on it. but it brings me closer to the books. it's fun. it's human nature,
>to copy what we love. maybe he wouldn't mind all that much. 
>
>lagusta
>
>
>