JDS quoted: Franny NOT pregnant
citycabn (citycabn@gateway.net)
Wed, 15 Sep 1999 10:50:11 -0700
I am not sure how many of the tidbits worth extracting from that mess of a
biography by Alexander have been posted or discussed. If this one has, my
apologies.
"The main worry of the editors at 'The New Yorker' was the possibility that
many readers could think Franny...might be pregnant. Since this would have
been a scandal in the mid-1950s, the editors believed Salinger needed to
resolve in his mind whether or not she was pregnant, and then reveal that
some way in the story. In point of fact, Salinger said in a letter to
Lobrano [his editor], Franny was *not* pregnant. So he suggested that a
small addition be made in the story; he wanted to insert in one key scene
the line of dialogue, 'Too goddam long between drinks. To put it crassly.'
If that didn't resolve the trouble, Salinger said, he had two long additions
that he would rather not use since they were obvious."
--pp. 182-3 of Salinger: A Biography by Paul Alexander