[Bananafish] RE: The Inverted Forest

[kenny2 at verizon.net]

Poor Mike. Saying that The Inverted Forest is better than Hapworth is
pretty severe.
Okay, let me paint my jaded scenerio on the "abrupt" ending of The Inverted
Forest. It's November 1946. Salinger has been working on The Inverted
Forest since August, struggling with its length and extended time-frame.
He's almost finished the novella. There's only a few pages to go until the
end. Suddenly, the phone rings. It's Gus Lobrano at The New Yorker. After
five years of keeping "Slight Rebellion Off Madison" hostage, the magazine
has decided to publish it in the December issue - just a few weeks away.
This is the big break that Salinger has waited for. But there's a caveat.
The New Yorker needs the story revised before publication.(That's
"compressed" in New Yorkerese.) That doesn't leave Salinger much time. He
dashes off a quick ending on The Inverted Forest and sets to work on Slight
Rebellion. When The Inverted Forest is published in December 1947 (a month
before Bananafish - which is far too close for comfort), Salinger's haste
to put away the novella comes back to bite him in the ass.


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