---Tim O'Connor <tim@roughdraft.org> wrote: > > At 6:04 PM -0400 on 10/11/98, you wrote: > > > I found Soldier's Home deeply moving. I'm not quite sure if it's one of his > > better known short stories but the way that Krebbs tells his mother he > >doesn't > > love her and then as she starts to cry, gives in and says it even though he > > doesn't mean it is very reminiscent to me of the inner conflict in Salinger > > characters dealing with their contempt for oblivious people yet their > > desperate need for companionship. > > Yes, that story is very disturbing. Hemingway's own mother, when he was > back from the war and not entirely sure about his prospects for the future, > eventually kicked him out and wrote him a pious note that said, in effect, > a mother's love is like a bank, with deposits and withdrawals made, and > that Hemingway -- through his aimlessness and what she saw as his lack of > morality -- had overdrawn his account. It was an astonishingly hostile > communication, and so it never surprises me to see unsympathetic mothers in > Hemingway. (After Hemingway's father committed suicide with a handgun, > Mrs. H. mailed the gun to Ernest -- another indication of her incomparable > sensitivity.) > > Myself, I've been mulling over "Fathers and Sons" a lot lately. > > I think we often see in Salinger the need in his characters to reach out to > other people but also the compulsion to withdraw from them. I thought > about this a lot today, because, as I said in an earlier message, I was > heading out for what I had hoped would be a nice walk in the sun, but when > I got to Central Park (near our favorite lagoon and its ducks), there were > the remains of a parade, and the streets were mobbed, and it was > unpleasant, and all my hopes of a bit of peaceful wandering in the sun were > dashed, and I thought of Holden wandering these same streets looking for > something, anything, and feeling the frequent need to back off from > whatever might happen. > > They've just cleaned off and rededicated Grand Central Terminal here, where > Holden sleeps on a bench, and it occurred to me that at some point it might > be entertaining to put up some pictures on the list web page -- of the > lagoon, of the waiting room in Grand Central, of the Indian canoe -- for > subscribers who might want to see what Salinger is writing about but who > may not get to NYC any time soon. > > At the same time, of course, there are some things that might be better > left to the imagination. As Horwitz might say, Whaddaya think? > > --tim o'connor > > Tim I do think it is a good idea to show pictures of the lagoon, etc... I do not get to go to NY very often so it would be interesting. I'll be in NY in April but I do not know my way around Central Park.By the way what have you been mulling over of "Fathers and Sons" ? I liked that story a lot. The Nick Adams stories are some of my favorites because I am from MI and I feel that Hemmingway really captures what Northern MI is like. I read "Soldier's Home" and I do see the similarities it shares with Salinger's stories. Seymour would be a character I would parallel with Krebs. > _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com