Wow! This one really blind sided me. I, of course, love The Catcher in the Rye (see Review), but when I tried reading Nine Stories, I was put off by them, so between that & his notorious silence, I just assumed Salinger was a one hit wonder. Still, he's got a birthday coming up (1/01/1919) and I found the book for a dollar, so I figured what the heck. Boy, am I glad. The book consists of two interconnected stories from the Glass family series, originally published in The New Yorker; Franny is the youngest sister, Zooey the youngest brother. All seven of the children were featured, each as they came of age, on a radio program called "It's a Wise Child", where: In general, listeners were divided into two, curiously
restive camps: those who held that the Glasses
I wavered between these two opinions, though leaning towards insufferable, through the first story, Franny (1955), which concerns Franny's visit to her college boyfriend as she teeters on the edge of a breakdown, and the first three quarters of Zooey (1957), which opens with an extended scene featuring the visiting TV star Zooey taking a bath and arguing with his mother as she tries to convince him to help Franny, who is continuing her breakdown on the family couch, having abandoned acting class. It seemed that these characters were simply Holden Caufields a little farther along in life--precocious, bright and charming, but hypersensitive to the point of neuroses. But then all of a sudden, when Zooey does intervene, the story really takes off. Franny, who shares with Zooey and her other siblings (and with Holden Caufield) an exasperation with the inadequacies of all those around her and with the problems of the world in general, has become fascinated by the works of a Russian mystic who advocates endless repetition of a certain Jesus Prayer as a means of getting in touch with God. But Zooey offers an important general observation on such religious self-flagellation: ...the religious life, and all the agony that goes
with it, is just something God sicks on people who
And he has an even more insightful observation to make about Franny's particular inability to accept the frailties of others: But what I don't like--and what I don't think either
Seymour or Buddy [older brothers] would like,
From there, he continues into a long exposition on the unique character of Jesus, which leads him to expose the egotism that lies at the heart of her misuse of the prayer: ...you're missing the whole point of the Jesus Prayer.
The Jesus Prayer has one aim, and one aim
He concludes: One other thing. And that's all. I promise
you. But the thing is, you raved and you bitched when
Finally, he recalls an admonition delivered by their older brother, Seymour, one time when Zooey was about to go on the radio program and didn't want to shine his shoes: I was furious. The studio audience were all
morons, the announcer was a moron, the sponsors
...I'll tell you a terrible secret--are you listening
to me? There isn't anyone out there who isn't
For joy, apparently, it was all Franny could do to hold the phone, even with both hands. This beautiful revelatory story is so suffused with empathy, humanity and spirituality, I had very nearly the same reaction as Franny. Zooey/Salinger has offered a way out of Franny's/Holden's/our' dilemma: the dissatisfaction with the seeming shortcomings of the world and the people around us. First, we must let go of our obsession with the failings of those around us; we can not be, nor should we try to be, catchers in the rye, trying to save or change everyone. Second, we must polish them for the Fat Lady; seek to live our lives perfectly, that we may be worthy of the audience, Christ Himself. If you have ever read and enjoyed The Catcher in the Rye, you owe it to yourself to read this book, an extended coda which, in effect, completes Holden's tale. It is one of the most moving and profoundly Christian works I've ever read. No wonder folks get so wound up at the thought of what Salinger has been writing during his extended silence. (Reviewed:) Grade: (A+) Tweet Websites:See also:J. Salinger (2 books reviewed)Brothers Judd Top 100 of the 20th Century: Novels Radcliffe 100 Best Novels of the Century WIKIPEDIA:J. D. Salinger - -ETEXT: Read J.D. Salinger’s first short story to feature Holden Caufield. (Walker Caplan, December 22, 2021, LitHub) -PROFILE: J. D. Salinger in Retreat… (Helen Dudar, June 1979, Writer's Bloc) -ESSAY: “Predatory Men With a Taste for Teenagers” Joyce Maynard on the Chilling Parallels Between Woody Allen and J.D. Salinger: The novelist, who had a relationship with Salinger when she was 18 and he was 53, on the Allen v. Farrow documentary—and what happens when women tell the truth (Joyce Maynard, APRIL 1, 2021, Vanity Fair) -ESSAY: On the Role of Zen Buddhism in the Stories of J.D. Salinger (Avram Alpert, April 7, 2021, Lit Hub) -REVIEW ESSAY: The Paradox of Holden Caulfield: Re-examining The Catcher in the Rye (Chris Beck, 11/25/20, Splice Today) -REVIEW ESSAY: Revisiting 'The Catcher in the Rye': Holden Caulfield is still lost. Can he be found? (Jon Weisman, 1/14/23, Slayed by Voices) -ESSAY: Hagiography of a Narcissist: On J. D. Salinger’s “Hapworth 16, 1924” (Grace Byron, June 18, 2024, Los Angeles Review of Books) -ESSAY: J.D. Salinger and the Wounds of War: On trauma, literature, and the long shadows of WWII (ames R. Benn, 9/24/24, CrimeReads) - Book-related and General Links: -BIO: JD Salinger (+ links) -Yet Another Page on J.D.Salinger? -Bananafish Home -SPARK NOTES: Online Study Guide (Brian Philips) -The Holden Server (Salinger, whose censorship by schools many critics lament, forced the guy to take this down, read about the process) -LINKS: (The Literature Nook) -chat: J.D. Salinger Catcher in The Rye Lecture Hall -ESSAY: A Section Man's Experience of The Catcher in the Rye (Jim Rovira) -ESSAY: So where do the Ducks go in the Winter? (Tim Lieder) -REVIEW: of Franny and Zooey Anxious Days For The Glass Family (JOHN UPDIKE, NY Times) -REVIEW: of Catcher in the Rye Aw, the World's a Crumby Place (JAMES STERN, NY Times) -REVIEW: of Catcher... (Brian Banks) -INDEX: Catcher in the Rye (Index of all the book's characters and topics) -ESSAY: (BOMC) -ESSAY : The truth about J.D. Salinger : We don't need exposés -- as Mary McCarthy showed long ago, the sickness is in his writing. (Geraldine McGowan, Salon) -ESSAY: Nonconformism in the Works of J. D. Salinger (April Wildermuth) -ARTICLE: J. D. Salinger Speaks About His Silence (LACEY FOSBURGH, NY Times) -ARTICLE: From Salinger, A New Dash Of Mystery (MICHIKO KAKUTANI, NY Times) -ARTICLE: Fire Fails To Shake Salinger's Seclusion (WILLIAM H. HONAN, NY Times) -ARTICLE: SALINGER BIOGRAPHY IS BLOCKED (ARNOLD H. LUBASCH, NY Times) -ARTICLE: Writer, Twice Restrained, Has New Salinger Book (EDWIN McDOWELL, February 19, 1988, NY Times) -REVIEW: of In Search of J. D. Salinger By Ian Hamilton (CHRISTOPHER LEHMANN-HAUPPT, NY Times) -REVIEW: of IN SEARCH OF J. D. SALINGER By Ian Hamilton (Mordecai Richler, NY Times Book Review) -REVIEW: Wilfrid Sheed: The Exile, NY Review of Books In Search of J.D. Salinger by Ian Hamilton -REVIEW: Steven Marcus: Seymour, NY Review of Books Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters by J.D. Salinger |
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