Nine Stories - JD Salinger

[tonywalt]

Favorite of JD Salinger Nine Stories?

I would go with "A Perfect Day for Bananafish", then "For Esme, with love and squalor" a close second.

[qimissung]

I'm a fan of Salinger, but have not read all of Nine Stories. I have read "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." It's good, but so sad.

[Henry Please]

"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut"

[Dark Muse]

A Perfect Day For A Bannafish is a great story, and I love the Glass family, especially Seymour, and while I enjoyed all of the stories within this collection, I remember that the story Teddy really jumped out at me, and I found to be truly fascinating as well as quite philosophical.


"All you do is get the heck out of your body when you die. My gosh, everybody's done it thousands and thousands of times. Just because they don't remember it doesn't mean they haven't done it. It's so silly"

"It is so silly," Teddy said again. "For example, I have a swimming lesson in about five minutes. I could go downstairs to the pool, and there might not be any water in it. This might be the day they change the water or something. What might happen, though, I might walk up to the edge of it, just to have a look at the bottom, for instance, and my sister might come up and sort of push me in. I could fracture my skull and die instantaneously." Teddy looked at Nicholson. "That could happen," he said. "My sister's only six, and she hasn't been a human being for very many lives, and she doesn't like me very much. That could happen, all right. What would be so tragic about it, though? What's there to be afraid of, I mean? I'd just be doing what I was supposed to do, that's all, wouldn't I?"

Nicholson snorted mildly. "It might not be a tragedy from your point of view, but it would certainly be a sad event for your mother and dad," he said. "Ever consider that?"

"Yes of course, I have," Teddy said. "But that's only because they have names and emotions for everything that happens."

"You know Sven" The man who takes care of the gym?" he asked. He waited till he got a nod from Nicholson. "Well, if Sven dreamed tonight that his dog died, he'd have a very, very bad night's sleep, because he's very fond of that dog. But when he woke up in the morning, everything would be all right. He'd know it was only a dream."

Nicholson nodded. "What's the point, exactly?"

The point is if his dog really died, it would be exactly the same thing. Only, he wouldn't know it. I mean he wouldn't wake up till he died himself."

[Helga]

I love 'A perfect day for Bananafish' and 'The laughing man' I have to admit I have only read the 9 stories by him, I still have 'The catcher in the Rye' on my to read list. probably read it next summer.

[PoeticPassions]

I haven't read all nine of the stories, but 'Teddy' is one of my favorite short stories of all time.

[tonywalt]

"De Damier-Smith's Blue Period" might be his most overlooked short story. Again, like all his writing he is talking about himself in a not so subtle way. It has a lot of Zen reference in it.

I have just re-read all the Glass writing including "Hapworth 16, 1924" which gives insight into Seymour Glass as a 7 year old.

Salingers gimmick is putting adult minds into a child's voice...Teddy, Seymour in Hapworth, Esme - all of them. It's sort of an interesting tool, and gives the writer so much leverage and license in a way.

[Henry Please]

I remember reading somewhere that "A Perfect Day for a Bananafish" received more complaint letters than any story The New Yorker had previously published, but was soon trumped by Shirley Jackson's "The Lottery" published something like five months later, which not only set the record for most complaints, but also the most "cancel my subscription" letters. Apparently 1948 was a controversial year for the short story.

I consider this a compliment to both writers.

[tonywalt]

True. Perfect day for Bananafish has alot of taboo or near taboo themes in it at the time. Sucicide, borderline inappropirate relationship between adult and child, and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder(without being named).

Most of his writing has some or all of the above.

[Artorius]

Nine Stories was a pleasant surprise for me since I didn't like The Catcher very much but the short stories are simply awesome.

[Buh4Bee]

God, I read these in high school. I think I now need to reread them! I remember the Glass family and the character Fanny. I also remember the setting being in the suburbs. I could relate so well, because it was similar to where I grew up. Sorry, but not contributing anything to the discussion.