Re: Janet Malcolm article: NY Review of Books, June 21, 2001 issue


Subject: Re: Janet Malcolm article: NY Review of Books, June 21, 2001 issue
From: Cecilia Baader (ceciliabaader@yahoo.com)
Date: Tue Jun 12 2001 - 16:43:30 GMT


--- Tim O'Connor <tim@roughdraft.org> wrote:
>
> Looks as if the NYRB put the Salinger piece up on its web site!
>
> http://www.nybooks.com/nyrev/WWWfeatdisplay.cgi?20010621016F
 

First of all, thank you Tim for posting the link for the NYRB. The
Janet Malcolm article was well worth the read.

Janet Malcolm's article covers a number of points that I'd like to
address, but I fear that I shall only have the facility to cover one or
two today. Actually, probably not even one. A half of a point, perhaps.

I guess that the thing that I'd most like to discuss is Zooey's "Just
don’t, that’s all. Don’t admire my goddam back" because I think that
statement is just as much about Bessie as it is about Zooey.

Bessie Glass is a character that has been largely ignored in terms of
both this list and Salinger criticism in general: people focus on Zooey,
on his freakishness and anger and wit and ignore Bessie's dancer's legs
and her cigarette ash and her tenacity. For here is the progenitor of
the freakish Glass children, a woman who is as abnormal as her sons and
as aware of the dire state of the situation around her. Yes, she
admires his back, yes he steps away from her, yes it's a moment of great
discomfort, but I think it's has more meaning than has been suggested.

It is the wonder of a mother at her creation, one that has gotten bigger
and more broad than she's ever imagined. It is the pride of a woman who
sees something beautiful in front of her, something real and touchable
and alive -- a stark contrast to the not-so-broad backs of her missing
family. It is admiration for the strength of a young man who has been
strong enough to survive the freakish Glass family childhood. And it is
confidence that this -- not her favorite son, nor her truly lighthearted
son, nor her unmentioned absent sons, but her strongest son -- will have
the ability to right what is wrong with her broken daughter.

It's very important to note that this mother of five sons has only one
left to turn to in her time of need. One back left to admire. It is a
mother's (not incestuous) touch, and I believe that it is a touch that
Zooey cannot bear because he isn't certain that he can live up to her
expectations.

Janet Malcolm rightly points out that a family that survives suicide
spends years dissecting what they could have done to make a difference,
how they could have prevented it, wearing an "S" on their sweaters.
Bessie Glass is no exception: she walks around in a tattered kimono, her
bulk bearing testament to her former glorious figure, but now she is
just a shadow, a person who rarely goes out and has difficulty dealing
with the trials of life. A few years before, Bessie's eyes bore
testament to the loss of her two sons, but now they bear a similar
testament over the littlest of things: she is no longer strong enough to
handle even the smallest of crises. Thus her dependence on this, her
son with the broad back.

And Zooey is afraid. He doesn't know if he can pull this out. Don't
admire my back, he's saying, I don't know if I'm strong enough to take
his place. He's already tried to talk to his sister once, but failed.
He leaves the bathroom and fails again. It is only when he goes to the
bedroom and surrounds himself with the wisdom of his dead brother, using
the telephone and wisdom of that same brother, that he is able to get
through to poor Franny.

Yes? No?

Regards,
Cecilia.
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