Re: Hello
Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Fri, 21 Nov 1997 23:43:41 -0500
Hey, Dan. Welcome to the list!
> I suppose I am one of the newest members of this list, so I
> thought I would introduce myself. My name is Dan Mahanty, I currently
> attend George Mason University, and as I assume for many of you, my
> addiction to Salinger (and, more specifically, the Glass family)is a
> purely self-indulgent attempt to justify my typically 20-something
> neurotic and occasionally pretentious behavior.
That's how it often starts. Don't worry; it will eventually mutate into
something more socially acceptable and then you will know you have crossed
to the other side.
> To begin with, I am intrigued with a passage in "Bananafish" which
> alludes to a tattoo Seymour hides from the general public. Would any of
> you know any more specific information, or of any other allusion in other
> works? (I swear, I've looked up and down "Franny and Zooey", but to no
> avail.)
I've often thought of it as a gentle dementia, of the sort Sgt. X might
have imagined in "Esme." Anyone else come across a clue about this, or
come up with a creative interpretation? "Bananafish" seems like such a
straightforward story, but it has the quality of an onion. Just one thin
layer atop another, and another....
--tim o'connor