Re: I ask this in all seriousness....
Laura Boyce (laboyce@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu)
Thu, 24 Jul 1997 15:08:56 -0400
ooh... I like it.
Another buddy-ism --- in "De-Maurier-Smith's Blue Period" (which I
re-read last night; I wouldn't have known this otherwise) the main
character (can't remember his name other than the pseudonym Jean De
Maurier-Smith) is on a bus once he returns to the states (from France)
with Bobby (his step-father) and someone says something to him like
"move your ass, buddy" and he says that the "buddy" part was the part
that really irked him.
laura
laboyce@nervm.nerdc.ufl.edu
Becky Spiro Green wrote:
>
> Sonny's reference to Zozo Glass is the closest I've seen
> to any _evidence_ regarding the pronunciation of "Zooey."
> Seems to be purely a matter of literary interpretation for
> every reader. (I happen to believe, firmly, that it rhymes
> with "Joey.")
>
> Eberhard Alsen has speculated that Buddy's full name
> is Webb Gallagher Glass. Boo Boo's son Lionel has
> an Uncle Webb (the owner of the goggles--the ones
> that used to belong to Lionel's Uncle Seymour).
>
> Also fascinating: Zooey's habit of calling everyone
> "Buddy." Possible implications:
>
> The second-oldest Glass sibling was given a generic
> nickname. Either he's universal, he's Everyman--or he
> almost doesn't exist, he's just buddy.
>
> It's part of why Zooey considers himself a freak. He
> uses his brother's name almost in vain. Buddy (who
> did everything else Seymour ever did, or tries to--why
> doesn't he just kill himself and be done with it?) has
> had an unjustifiably significant influence on his
> youngest brother.
>
> Seymour, Buddy, and Zooey have been brothers for
> several incarnations. Maybe Zooey's learned, after all
> this time, that everyone really _is_ Buddy.
>
> Becky