RE: Smoking in Salinger's fiction.

PODESTA,Lesley (Lesley.PODESTA@deetya.gov.au)
Tue, 17 Feb 1998 13:06:22 +1000

Hi everyone. Back on the list after summer holidays. Hasn't it been
busy, reading the archives was fabulous. I felt so jealous that I missed
the debates.

In regards to the "smoking characters" of JDS, Bethany's post made me
think of Seymour's description of  happiness as running down the street
with Buddy when they were younger. (I'm at work so my memory is possibly
a bit faulty.)
	I always think of smoking in JDS as a fifties device to
accompany characters who basically talk rather than do. The smoking
becomes something to do with their hands (as eg Zooey "on stage" with
his mother in the bathroom) or accompanies a fairly motionless act (eg
Buddy reading Seymour's letter in the bath). Who can forget the ash
falling on the damp page?
	If the stories were being written now then I guess the
characters would be retreating to their rooms to sit on their computers
- and isn't that a horrible thought?
	Lesley P.