RE: The Inverted Forest

Doesn't the Seymour
>in Raise High give somewhat more credibility to the Seymour presented in
>Bananafish?
>
>Hester
>

No, I think the Seymour presented in RHTRBC undermines the on ein
Bananafish. First, Banafish is a short story written, as Buddy says, after
am ardous ordeal. On an unbalanced typwriter, too. He focuses on M and her
faults, rather than on S, who seems to care about children and the dangers
they face. Buddy rallies against those Rhea types-with the spurious
reputation of being well-read, and fawning over Buddy Black as well as the
rest of the Wise Child Program too.
It helps me put the whole thing in perspective, Seymour brining the gun down
the Florida, waiting until they'd been there soem time. And that last look
he gives Muriel. He really knows that he has flopped.
At least he was enough of a person to realize that, Buddy doesn't recognize
it.

-ADS

>
> >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 11:27:49 2003