Re: just after the war with the eskimos
Bethany M. Edstrom (Bethany.M.Edstrom@Dartmouth.EDU)
Sun, 30 Nov 1997 20:14:21 -0500 (EST)
I'll vote for "DeDaumier Smith's Blue Period" as my favorite Salinger short
story. I remember rereading that one on a very hot June day when I was working
at the Robert Frost Museum in New Hampshire and had NO business for long
stretches of time. I was living in the wonderful but tiny town of Franconia, NH
and renting a very small, hot, uncomfortable room in a house with people I did
not get along with at all. I remember reading that story over and over until I
practically memorized it, especially the part where deDaumier-Smith (initials
JDS, after all) imagines going up to his employer/landlord and ranting and
raving to him about how his mother is dead, he has to live with her CHARMING
husban (I loved that line), this that and the other thing, and THERE ARE NO
CHAIRS IN YOUR SON'S ROOM! But, personal memories aside, it is a great story in
so many respects. The characterization of Jean dD-S, who is nineteen, I think,
is as good as or better than that of Holden.
So there's my agreement with Steven on the "less-talked-about" stories issue--
Bethany