Subject: Re: Literary References (was Re: TLM and Tale of Two Cities)
From: Tim O'Connor (oconnort@nyu.edu)
Date: Thu Oct 05 2000 - 12:11:14 GMT
On Thu, Oct 05, 2000 at 10:36:56AM -0400, Pasha Paterson wrote:
> Speaking of literary references, one thing that has always been puzzling to me
> is the passage in Catcher where Holden talks about D.B.'s favorite books and
> authors: Fitzgerald's _The_Great_Gatsby_, and anything by Ring Lardner. Why
> these? Was JD just giving a shout-out to his buddy Scott? What was his
> connection to Lardner?
Well, Gatsby is a pretty amazing book, so it could easily be a salute
to a knockout of a novel. Lardner was himself pretty popular when
Salinger was young, and even wrote for the New Yorker, the way the
young Salinger aspired to do.
I don't believe there was ever any documented personal meeting between
Salinger and Fitzgerald; from what I recall, F.S.F. died when Salinger
was about 21, before the younger writer had achieved any acclaim.
--tim o'connor
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