Feel free to introduce yourself
Michael Sussman (qironzh@rocketmail.com)
Mon, 18 May 1998 08:48:31 -0700 (PDT)
I am 21, will probably be studying philosophy at NYU this coming fall.
When I first read the Nine Stories, I was much more taken to “Teddy”
than “Bananafish.” I liked Teddy because of his way of arguing much
more than the actual plot of the story. But I *am* a philosophy
student so that’s not so strange. But then I read F&Z, and had a lot
in common with Zooey. Not that I ever tried to get over a love affair
by translating an Upanishad into Attic Greek (though I broke off a
date in High School when a girl told me that Holden was the literary
character she most identified with; even though I get the sense that
the same is true for my father, of all people).
I even got my neighbors, delightful goof-off summer-intern
accountants, to read F&Z because it has ideas which can be especially
useful and impractical for anyone in the school system (e.g., that
knowledge should lead to wisdom, etc.). It’s more accessible than Nine
Stories because it’s goal-oriented, un-Hindu.
But about “Bananafish,” I contented myself to believe that Seymour
killed himself because he couldn’t deal with dishonesty (of Sybil and
of the woman in the elevator, & Miss Spiritual Tramp, etc.). But this
is premature.
Recently and I admit it- for personal reasons- I’ve been rereading
everything about Seymour to try to figure it out. If I come up with
anything worthwhile and not altogether trite I’ll let y’all know.
----Sussby
= = =
Voltaire went once to a male brothel and his friends asked him
afterward did he like it, and he said, "Oh, yes, very much. It was
better than I thought it would be." They said, "Are you going back?"
and he said, "No. Once a philosopher, twice a pervert."
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