Re: gary lane, 'the duino elegies', death haiku

jim,

i realize now i wasn't clear when i said 'the poem
points...' i meant syemour's death haiku. i really
don't know how much of the fourth elegy was
reverberating in salinger's mind when he wrote the
suicide poem in 'zooey'. but the fact that salinger's
only instance of mentioning a specific rilke work is
the fourth elegy leads one to think that that work
means a lot to jds.

kim
--- Jim Rovira <jrovira@drew.edu> wrote:
> jeez, Kim, you remember the stories in such detail I
> don't think I can
> respond fairly until I've read them again...
>
> Pretty interesting discussion, though. If you see a
> difference between
> Salinger's use of a poem and your reading of a poem
> -- does that mean that
> Salinger reads the poem differently than you, or is
> he engaging in a
> deliberate distortion of the poem to say something
> about Buddy or Seymour?
> Or did he just misremember?
>
> Jim
>
> Kim Johnson wrote:
>
> > well, i was probably just hedging my bet with
> > 'subconscious'. it might have been much more.
> though
> > buddy lumps the death poem in with that fey
> lamb-chop
> > division of truth tale about 2 boyfriends: dorothy
> and
> > bobby. and then goes on to talk of seymour's
> > insistence that we must unlearn the differences
> > between things. but to me the poem points in a
> > different direction from that.
> >
> > and as gary lane says in his article, the fourth
> elegy
> > ends with the proximity of the child with death,
> which
> > links the poem even moreso. (lane does not
> mention
> > the death haiku in his exegesis of the story.)
> the
> > haiku poem merits a lot of attention, i think,
> since
> > it is the only fact that salinger adds to the
> events
> > of 'a perfect day'. but i readily admit i
> couldn't
> > explain in a coherent manner what the poem
> 'means'.
> >
> > i do think salinger's love of poetry is crucial to
> an
> > understanding of his work. over and over again he
> > injects praise for poetry and poets: from that
> simple
> > blake lyric in 'raise high' once providing
> physical
> > medicinal help to buddy to seymour's mentioning of
> the
> > current of poetry that runs through all things.
> > and rilke seems to be rather a central poet for
> > salinger.
> >
> > kim
> > --- Jim Rovira <jrovira@drew.edu> wrote:
> > > um, excuse me, Kim, but what are you doing
> talking
> > > about Salinger Here?
> > >
> > > Seriously, that's pretty interesting. I don't
> think
> > > it necessarily had to
> > > be a subconscious borrowing on Salinger's part,
> > > though, do you?
> > >
> > > Jim
> > >
> > > Kim Johnson wrote:
> > >
> > > > i recently read an interesting essay by gary
> lane
> > > > about 'a perfect day for bananafish'. in it
> he
> > > > submits that the book of german poems seymour
> sent
> > > > muriel is 'the duino elegies'. this seems
> right
> > > to
> > > > me. (notice that salinger nowhere refers to a
> > > german
> > > > poet; in fact rilke was born in prague, then
> part
> > > of
> > > > the austro-hungarian empire. as for the
> question
> > > of
> > > > whether it could be some other 20th century
> poet
> > > > writing in german prior to 1948, one would be
> hard
> > > > pressed to nominate someone else. besides,
> rilke
> > > > receives mention in 'the stranger', 'the
> inverted
> > > > forest', and, most importantly, for this post,
> in
> > > > 'franny'.) gary lane attempts to illuminate
> parts
> > > of
> > > > 'bananafish' using the 'elegies' as a
> torchlight.
> > > i'm
> > > > not sure i was convinced that they provide the
> key
> > > to
> > > > the enigmas of the story. but it was
> welcoming to
> > > see
> > > > someone attempt to utilize the book in
> question
> > > which
> > > > was obviously on seymour's mind as they drove
> > > down to
> > > > florida.
> > > >
> > > > i referred to 'franny' above. the thing that
> > > struck
> > > > me is the thought that salinger himself would
> have
> > > > re-read 'franny' before writing 'zooey'.
> (there
> > > had
> > > > been a hiatus of 2 years between stories, with
> > > 'raise
> > > > high' inbetween.) in 'franny' there is a
> direct
> > > > reference to the fourth duino elegy. in
> 'zooey'
> > > > salinger adds one new piece of information
> > > regarding
> > > > seymour's suicide. he says that seymour wrote
> a
> > > haiku
> > > > on the blotter of the hotel desk, in japanese.
> he
> > > > translates it as 'the little girl on the
> plane/who
> > > > turned her doll's head around/to look at me'.
> this
> > > > elegy (which gary lane also refers to), is
> often
> > > > called the doll elegy in rilke criticism. in
> the
> > > elegy
> > > > there is some dense symbolism which critics
> fight
> > > > over. but the interesting thing to note is
> that
> > > in a
> > > > crucial passage rilke writes: 'when i feel
> like
> > > it, to
> > > > wait before the puppet stage,--no, rather/gaze
> so
> > > > intensely on it that at last,/to upweigh my
> gaze,
> > > an
> > > > angel has to come,/and play a part there,
> > > snatching up
> > > > the husks./angel and doll! then there's at
> last a
> > > > play./then there unites what we
> continually/part
> > > by
> > > > our being there.' my creaky post merely wants
> to
> > > > suggest that salinger subconsiously remembered
> the
> > > > fourth elegy when he wrote seymour's death
> poem.
> > > that
> > > > the poem's setting in a plane could denote the
> > > angelic
> > > > realm, with the little girl standing in for
> the
> > > angel.
> > > > angel and doll are united, and allows: 'then
> at
> > > > last/can spring from our own turning years the
> > > > cycle/of the whole event. over and above
> > > us/there's
> > > > then the angel playing.'
> > > >
> > > > i don't think the suicide can be explained by
> the
> > > > poem, but i do find it gives thought that
> salinger
> > > > added it after the fact.
> > > >
> > > > kim
> > > >
> > > >
> __________________________________________________
> > > > Do you Yahoo!?
>
=== message truncated ===

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Received on Wed Sep 25 16:50:26 2002