Re: The Inverted Forest

Yeah, I can see serious differences between Seymour Glass and the Seymour
in Bananafish. I think the problem is one inherent in appropriating and
reinterpreting old stories in the light of new ones -- I honestly don't
see much in Seymour Glass that would lead him to suicide. Salinger may
have intended the difficulty, though...it's hard to say. The difficulty of
reconciling B-fish Seymour with Seymour Glass may be part of Salinger's
point. Come to think of it, it's difficult reconciling the Ford that C.
met in the Chinese restaurant for months, the kind Ford who was humane and
genuine at C's dinner party, who wrote this remarkable poetry, with the
Ford who ran off on her eventually for someone named "Bunny" who wrote bad
poetry.

It could be that these stories are Salinger's reification of these
contradictory impulses in his own personality...hard to tell.

Jim

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Received on Tue Mar 18 21:26:32 2003