Re: Sleepy
Camille Scaysbrook (verona_beach@hotpop.com)
Sun, 12 Sep 1999 20:43:11 +1000
Colin wrote:
> How could anyone not like De Daumier-Smith!! He has to be one of the
> most charming characters JDS has written. 'De Daumier-Smith's Blue
> Period' is one of my favourite Salinger stories. It has to be the
> funniest story he has written.
I'm totally in agreement; De Daumier Smith as a character is appealingly
self-centred in a way that the Glasses could only dream about, and the
story (which I guess is long enough to almost be considered a short
novella) I think is one of Salinger's best and examines some of his
favourite topics - especially the connection between spirituality and
creativity - in a very interesting and quite different way to how he does
in later stories. But you'd be surprised how many people it rubs totally
the wrong way. I've never understood it myself - it's a better piece of art
than other stories in the volume like Down at the Dingy, which I would
consider probably the weakest of the Nine Stories. DDS would probably rank
just under Catcher as my favourite piece of Salingeria. Could anyone in the
case against say exactly what they *don't* like about the story or its
character? I've always been curious to know.
Camille
verona_beach@hotpop.com