Lois Taggett
Bethany M. Edstrom (Bethany.M.Edstrom@Dartmouth.EDU)
Sun, 07 Jun 1998 21:51:59 -0400 (EDT)
I just read Salinger's story "The Long Debut of Lois Taggett." It's the first
of the uncollected stories I've read, and I'm interested to hear what others
who know the story have to say. I thought idly about Lois being some kind of
Muriel-prototype, but mostly I'm interested in the Bill character (her first
husband--I forget his last name already). Without spoiling the story for
anyone, I'll give a brief outline: Bill married Lois (a NYC debutante) for her
money, and then discovers one morning that he really loves her, after he sees
her un-made up face squashed against her pillow as she sleeps. His life is
changed because of this, but even as he loves her, he can't keep himself from
hurting her. He attacks her twice and finally she leaves him.
This episode is only a small fraction of the story--takes up about 2 1/2 pages.
Salinger glosses over it as if it's unimportant, or as if he's resisting it
somehow, and goes on to other things that aren't nearly as interesting. This
list has already hashed out the issue of Seymour's compulsion to hurt Charlotte
by throwing a rock at her--which seems similar to what Bill does in "Lois
Taggett." I'd be interested to know what came between Bill and Seymour--how the
character evolved from a shallow literary agent in this early story to the
suicidal poet we all know and love...
Bethany