Re: Cheever and Salinger


Subject: Re: Cheever and Salinger
From: Jim Rovira (jrovira@drew.edu)
Date: Fri Jun 21 2002 - 12:23:24 EDT


Yeah, it's probably a good hunch too since Hemingway kinda influenced EVERYONE
back then. That influence is unquestionable...it was pervasive. I'd like to see
it turn into more than a hunch...

Jim

Chris Kubica wrote:

> Thanks for the info on Cheever.
>
> I wasn't really trying to make a formal claim about "six", I was just
> announcing my hunch. I do think it's a nod, though, whether JDS was
> conscious of it or not.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> chris kubica
> the fm pro, inc.
> 765-497-2294 (Phone)
> 425-671-5648 (Fax)
>
> http://members.aol.com/thefmpro/
>
> > From: Jim Rovira <jrovira@drew.edu>
> > Organization: Drew University
> > Reply-To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
> > Date: Thu, 20 Jun 2002 09:56:24 -0400
> > To: bananafish@roughdraft.org
> > Subject: Cheever and Salinger
> >
> > Chris --
> >
> > I'd say some of Cheever's fiction was written about people very much like
> > those who populate Salinger's work -- semi-affluent or middle to upper
> > middle class northeasterners. There are some similarities in style too --
> > if you compare, say, Nine Stories to some of Cheever's short stories. I
> > haven't read Cheever in awhile so this is off the cuff...but if you want to
> > read Cheever, I'd start with his collected stories. You can find used
> > copies everywhere cheap...that's been my experience, anyway...both
> > hardcover and paperback. I'm not so much claiming influence either way,
> > but just observing similarities in style that I think arose independently.
> > Probably a reflection of the type of stuff that people were publishing back
> > then.
> >
> > I don't know why Salinger chose "six" Bananafish, but it's not the thing
> > that I'd necessarily feel needs to have meaning ascribed to it. The number
> > of bananafish doesn't seem significant because I don't think the number 6
> > recurs in the story at all. It's not impossible that this was a nod to
> > Hemingway of some sort, but that'd just take a bit of research to prove.
> > Like a list of significant similarities between that particular work by
> > Hemingway and this particular work by Salinger, or a reference by Salinger
> > in personal correspondence about this work by Hemingway that shows positive
> > influence. SOMETHING :). I don't think thematic similarities are enough
> > to show this kind of specific influence...I think we'd need to work on the
> > sentence level, even -- something that reflected definite influence. It's
> > not impossible but the bare assertion isn't enough.
> >
> > Jim
> >
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