Subject: Feet, Rilke
From: Matt Kozusko (mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu)
Date: Mon Feb 07 2000 - 15:34:41 EST
Lucy-Ruth
As Paul points out, Salinger was indeed a fan of Rilke. Perhaps just
as important, Salinger sometimes had Rilke in mind when he was writing
(to recap: the "German poet" of "BFish" is "almost certainly Rilke,"
and Rilke also appears in the opening pages of "Franny").
I don't remember details, but I did my undergraduate thesis on this
stuff. Salinger might've been reading Rilke even before the war,
probably in translation, perhaps in German at some point. One James
Finn Cotter did some academic work linking Rilke's "Song of the
Suicide" (from _Book of Images_) to "Bfish" (Bruce, I trust, will back
Norton as the recommended translation). The list of minor
allusions/connections may be longer; I've forgotten. But you're
definitely onto something there.
Regarding feet in England, I notice that people tend to stare at your
feet if you're wearing cowboy boots.
-- Matt Kozusko mkozusko@parallel.park.uga.edu - * Unsubscribing? Mail majordomo@roughdraft.org with the message * UNSUBSCRIBE BANANAFISH
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