RE: The Inverted Forest

Shouldn't we take into consideration Buddy's concession that his family
accused him of putting too much of himself in the Seymour of Bananafish?
But it is also understandable to think that the Seymour on the last day
of his life was drastically different than the Seymour of his younger
days. As much as we love him for his intellectual capacity and the
great respect that he commanded within his family, it's difficult to
believe that he would throw all of that away. I would beg to differ on
your point about there being little to see why Seymour would commit
suicide (Aside from the fact that he purpotedly believes in
reincarnation). The Seymour presented in Raise High is arguably the
most tragic and saddest of all of his portrayals. It is also the most
significant because it is the only place (among the stories published in
book form) that we see Seymour's words "untainted" by Buddy's voice,
through Seymour's diary. The Seymour in the diary is hardly happy
despite his "I'm a paranoiac in reverse" statement. Doesn't the Seymour
in Raise High give somewhat more credibility to the Seymour presented in
Bananafish?

Hester

>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 Wed Mar 19 04:20:57 2003