citycabn/Tim O'Connor/citycabn: > >> 2. A tape recorder and JDS's voice: Anyone, offhand, recall any >> references to JDS's speaking voice in the secondary material? Or have >> _heard_ it and care to report? > >Unusually distinguished, and delivered through one of the finer sets >of teeth seen >northeast of Yankee Stadium, a Voice of Authority, as Buddy Glass might >say. Wow! Thanks. (And a great sentence to boot.) >> 4. World War II: Reading those posts, thought of JDS quote from 10/24/45: >> "So far the novels of this war have had too much of the strength, maturity >> and craftsmanship critics are looking for, and too little of the glorious >> imperfections which teeter and fall off the best minds. The men who have >> been in this war deserve some sort of trembling melody rendered without >> embarrassment or regret. I'll watch out for that book." > >Whence this quote? Is it from a letter or is it cited as coming from a >letter. This is an interesting point of view, given that the war had >only just ended. Very end of chapter six of Hamilton's In Search of.... He says it's from "Backstage with _Esquire_" (I assume contributor notes for "This Sandwich..."). >> 5. "An Ocean Full of Bowling Balls": Goodness, if Santa has rewarded >> Paul's standing at attention at his fax machine, let me know! If not, I >> find it somewhat difficult to reconcile the description of "AOFOBB" on the >> "Unpublished Stories" screen in Bananafish with the description of it in >> Hamilton's book. Hamilton says the manuscript is at the Firestone Library. >> Anyone ever read the damn thing? > >I have ... with the perspective of later years, you can see threads of >(a) the creation of a tangled family, though named "Caulfield" instead >of "Glass"; (b) an obsession with siblings; (c) material that would >eventually be recycled into Catcher; and (d) a letter from Holden, who >is at camp, making complaints not unlike those of Seymour, in >"Hapworth," years later. (Not intellectual, like Seymour, but just a >kid.) > >It's like a pot of soup with all kinds of familiar bits floating in it >and dialogue that seems more like Hemingway's character in "Soldier's >Home" but also with that Salinger rhythm and off-beat spelling. > >Not a great story -- more showing rather than telling, to repeat an old >writer's axiom -- but interesting to archaeologists. > > Many thanks for the report.