Re: Jarrell/Salinger
Paul Kennedy (kennedyp@toronto.cbc.ca)
Tue, 20 Jul 1999 06:08:29 -0400 (EDT)
DEPARTMENT OF 'FOOLS RUSH IN':
OK, Scottie.... I have to confess that I came here this morning to
contribute to the, ahem
>
> baby gurglings about
> Tom & Nicole
(...having seen the movie about occlusion only hours ago....)
Let me, however, respectfully suggest that Adam Gopnik (an acquaintance, and
fellow-Canadian whose job is the only one in the world I actually envy) is
onto SOMETHING when he so eloquently suggests that there's a Seymour
connection somewhere not too far below the surface here. People, I think,
would be wise to ignore most of Jarrell's poetry (I don't really mean
THAT.... Read everything.... Read early.... Read often.... Read always!) and
concentrate instead on a 1954 novel called--if I recall correctly--PICTURES
AT AN INSTITUTION....
Now, I'm NOT a section man (nor is Gopnik! He started out as an art critic,
and then landed the job of Paris reporter for the NEW YORKER.... I now
constantly use his example as evidence underlining the advantages of
bilingualism in Canada....) But I'd be willing to bet that Jarrell was
trying to copy CATCHER--way back in the darkest recesses of his artist's
mind--when he started writing PICTURES (which was, coincidentally, round
about the time that CATCHER was being published....) And I think the
suggestion that Salinger would have been aware of Jarrell's poetry (if not
his possible 'suicide') at the time he started working on the Glass family
is nearly a no-brainer....
Where's Will when we need him?
I guess I'll "sleep" on the Tom/Nicole thing before saying anything stupid.
Cheers,
Paul
PS--BTW, RJ walked in front of an on-coming car, in Chappell Hill, North
Carolina, on October 14, 1965.