Subject: Re: Cheever and Salinger
From: Cecilia Baader (ceciliabaader@yahoo.com)
Date: Sat Jun 22 2002 - 00:18:34 EDT
--- Will Hochman <hochmanw1@owl.southernct.edu> wrote:
>
> Judiasm is one of Salinger's least developed religious directions,
> but I loved the way Cecillia could connect the kabbala and
> "soulsickness." I am a Jew and think the kabbala is one of the most
> interesting parts of the religion, but I don't think Salinger
> explored Judiasm deeply and I've often wondered why.
His mixed Jewish/Catholic heritage shows up in the Glass stories, of
course, but Jewishness is also a facet of his earlier fiction, especially
in "A Girl I Knew," where the girl the narrator loved who died in the Nazi
concentration camps. And do not forget that this author was part of the
American force that liberated the death camps.
That his fiction treats it only briefly on the surface makes me think that
there is a reason for that.
> I wondered if he
> ever mentioned the kabbala in print...maybe in
> Hapworth?...dunno...
Not as far as I can remember.
> but I think he may have grown up as a Jew with
> something of an attitude to assimilate into secular culture. Judiasm
> seems to be part of the Glass family, but it's never at the "lox and
> bagels" level.
No, but then, I don't know that his experience was ever at the "lox and
bagels" level, either. Didn't he grow up in an affluent neighborhood on
the Upper East Side? And, if his family business included the importing
of pork products, I can't think that the Salingers were strongly
practicing Jews.
However, nonpracticing members of a religion aren't necessarily
uninformed, and especially if Salinger made his bar mitzvah, I'd have to
think that he'd have to pass a certain level of instruction in the faith.
That he doesn't often write about his Jewishness is no surprise, given the
circumstances. And, given his war experiences and the scene he relates in
"Down at the Dinghy," I wonder if it impacted him far more deeply than
you'd think. Socially, rather than religiously.
These are all just musings, of course.
Regards,
Cecilia.
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