aficion
08-23-2011, 10:21 PM
I am still rather green when it comes to classic literature, having just really started diving into a lot of it. Faulkner, Dickens, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, & now Salinger.
I read Catcher years ago and really enjoyed it (I know it's hit or miss for many). And after hearing a few good things about Salinger's short stories, I bought "Nine Stories".
"For Esme -- w/ Love & Squalor" & "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" were the two stories that really stood out to me. I thought they were both masterpieces and the one thing I couldn't help but notice was Salinger's ability to develop young children as characters. More specifically, how he is able to really capture childhood innocence in Sybil, Esme, and Charles.
I always laugh at this part of For Esme -- w/ Squalor & Love:
I ordered another pot of tea and sat watching the two of them till they, and the harassed Miss Megley, got up to leave. Charles led the way out, limping tragically, like a man with one leg several inches shorter than the other. He didn't look over at me. Miss Megley went next, then Esmé, who waved to me. I waved back, half getting up from my chair. It was a strangely emotional moment for me.
Less than a minute later, Esmé came back into the tearoom, dragging Charles behind her by the sleeve of his reefer. “Charles would like to kiss you goodbye,” she said.
I immediately put down my cup, and said that was very nice, but was she sure?
“Yes,” she said, a trifle grimly. She let go Charles' sleeve and gave him a rather vigorous push in my direction. He came forward, his face livid, and gave me a loud, wet smacker just below the right ear. Following this ordeal, he started to make a beeline for the door and a less sentimental way of life, but I caught the half belt at the back of his reefer, held on to it, and asked him, “what did one wall say to the other wall?”
His face lit up. “Meet you at the corner!” he shrieked, and raced out of the room, possibly in hysterics.
Do any other authors even compare in their ability to develop childhood innocence like this?
I read Catcher years ago and really enjoyed it (I know it's hit or miss for many). And after hearing a few good things about Salinger's short stories, I bought "Nine Stories".
"For Esme -- w/ Love & Squalor" & "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" were the two stories that really stood out to me. I thought they were both masterpieces and the one thing I couldn't help but notice was Salinger's ability to develop young children as characters. More specifically, how he is able to really capture childhood innocence in Sybil, Esme, and Charles.
I always laugh at this part of For Esme -- w/ Squalor & Love:
I ordered another pot of tea and sat watching the two of them till they, and the harassed Miss Megley, got up to leave. Charles led the way out, limping tragically, like a man with one leg several inches shorter than the other. He didn't look over at me. Miss Megley went next, then Esmé, who waved to me. I waved back, half getting up from my chair. It was a strangely emotional moment for me.
Less than a minute later, Esmé came back into the tearoom, dragging Charles behind her by the sleeve of his reefer. “Charles would like to kiss you goodbye,” she said.
I immediately put down my cup, and said that was very nice, but was she sure?
“Yes,” she said, a trifle grimly. She let go Charles' sleeve and gave him a rather vigorous push in my direction. He came forward, his face livid, and gave me a loud, wet smacker just below the right ear. Following this ordeal, he started to make a beeline for the door and a less sentimental way of life, but I caught the half belt at the back of his reefer, held on to it, and asked him, “what did one wall say to the other wall?”
His face lit up. “Meet you at the corner!” he shrieked, and raced out of the room, possibly in hysterics.
Do any other authors even compare in their ability to develop childhood innocence like this?