Re: Seymour's death
Paul Janse (PJanse@compuserve.com)
Tue, 17 Nov 1998 03:30:03 -0500
Jim, what I meant was this: what would have been the *effect* on the
overall impression, quality of the story if it had ended otherwise. And m=
y
point is that the ending is so unexpected and out of key with the rest of=
the story, that I think would not be that great. It's just impossible to
think up an alternative ending for, say, Esme. But here... if he would ha=
ve
killed Muriel, would it *really* have been a different Seymour? =
(I just saw that Matt reacted in about the same way. Well, I'll send this=
post anyway. If only to remind you, Jim, that you wrote, not long ago, th=
at
you are more interested in the effect of literature, than in intentions,
messages, etc. So am I, and that was exactly what triggered my question
about Bananafish.)
Paul Janse
Jim wrote:
>I don't know about the question itself. Could the story have ended some=
>other way? Of course. Seymour could have killed Muriel, gone on a
>killing spree, and wiped out those young children he played with too.
>But then it would be a different Seymour and a different story. It's
>like asking, Could Salinger have written a different story? Well, the
>answer is always, Yes. But he didn't. =