[Bananafish] Poetry

[James Rovira]

That's wonderful, Mike.  I think it means Salinger didn't conceive the 
whole thing as a whole thing until pretty late in the game.

Jim

Michael J ANELLO wrote:

> /1926, In the Glass world...a very consequential party happens 2 years 
> after Buddy and Seymour are at Camp Hapworth./
> // 
> /Real world, /Salinger's "Bananafish" is published Saturday, /January 
> 31, 1948 /- in the "Bananafish" world, it is *Thursday*, March 18, 1948.
>  
> Rhea Fedder, tries to call her daughter Muriel last night (Wednesday 
> night, 3/17/48) and the night before (Tuesday night, 3/16/48).  Muriel 
> and Seymour arrive at their destination a day later than Rhea expected 
> they would arrive.  And now Muriel is calling her two days later than 
> Rhea expected.  It's Thursday, March 18, 1948, Muriel and Seymour 
> arrived at their destination yesterday morning.
>  
> So, picture yourself in the real world on Sat, Jan. 31, 1948, and you're 
> reading about something that happens a month and a half in the FUTURE.  
> Bitchin'. * It's science fiction.*
>  
> In the Glass world, Buddy says in 1959 that he wrote "Bananafish" a 
> couple of months after Seymour died...which would have been May, 1948.  
> In May, 1948, Buddy would have been 29 years old.  Seymour would have 
> been 31.
>  
> Follow this now! 
>  
> In the Glass world, Buddy says in 1959 that his 1955 story (Raise High) 
> is an account of Seymour's 1942 wedding.  On that day in 1942, Buddy was 
> 23, and Seymour was 25.
>  
> We all know that Buddy says in 1959 that he is 40 years old.  1948 is 11 
> years ago.  That would make Buddy 29 years old in 1948.  6 years prior 
> to 1948, Buddy (age 23) is at Seymour's wedding.  NICE.
>  
> In Glass world, 1948, Seymour (38 years old) and Muriel were married in 
> 1942.  They are on a vacation of some sorts.  Muriel has waited for him 
> while he was in the war.  War ends in 1945, seems like he's freshly 
> back?  Where's Seargent X been for 3 years?  Is this whole 
> Buddy/Salinger thing a product of Salinger not knowing if he was Buddy 
> or Seymour?
>  
> In 1951, Buddy writes his long long letter to Zooey.
>  
> Seymour born 1917, dies Thursday, March 18, 1948 (where in HELL does it 
> say S. dies on March *19*?)
> Buddy born 1919.
> Walt & Waker born 1923.
> Boo Boo born 1921.
> Zooey born 1930.
> Franny born 1934.
>  
> /Real world, 1955/, in the story "Franny" - in the Glass world it is 
> also *1955*.  Zooey is 25.  Franny is 21.  Buddy (and guess who else) is 
> 36.  Seymour died at age 38 seven years ago.
>  
> /Real world, 1955/, in the story "Raise High The Roof Beams" - in the 
> Glass world it is still also *1955*.  Buddy tells about how, in 1934, 
> when he was 17 years old, Seymour (19 years old at the time, and halfway 
> to his death) told newborn Franny the Taoist tale of Duke Mu and Po Lo.  
> He also, of course, tells of Seymour's wedding day in 1942.  On 
> Seymour's wedding day in 1942, Buddy is 23, and Seymour is 25 (with only 
> 13 years left to his life).  Seymour was married to Muriel for 13 years.
>  
> *TWO YEARS IN THE REAL WORLD PASS, 0 years in the Glass world pass.*
>  
> /Real world, 1957/, in the story "Zooey" - in the Glass world, Zooey's 
> in a bathtub and it is still *1955*, and Buddy is 36 years old.  
> Salinger/Buddy wrote the story "Zooey", and he would have been 38 in 
> 1957...the same age Seymour was when he died.  BANANAFISH IN THE FUTURE, 
> NOW ZOOEY IN THE PAST.
>  
> /What is going on in the Glass world in *1956*?  *1957*? * 1958*?  How 
> about the Real world?  Anybody?/
>  
> /Real world, 1959/, in the story "Seymour An Introduction" - it is 
> *1959*, Buddy says he is 40.  Everyone is 4 years older than they were 
> in "Franny", "Raise High" & "Zooey."
>  
> Seymour died at age 38 eleven years ago.
>  
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  
> 6 years later, in the Real world, Friday, May 28, 1965, in the story 
> "Hapworth 16, 1924" - Buddy/Salinger is 46 years old.  (Buddy types up 
> Seymour's letter in 4 hours?  Can anyone else type Hapworth in 4 hours?  
> What's the word count on that sucker?  I'm betting it took Salinger 4 
> hours to write.)
>  
> Seymour died 17 years ago.  (And you thought he spent a long time in 
> CAULFIELD world!)  Seymour would have been 48.
>  
> The story is a letter from Seymour, 1924, from Camp Hapworth when he was 
> 7.  Buddy was 5.  Seymour won't be dead for another 24 years.
>  
> 24 years is about how long Salinger had been writing, yes?
>  
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> 
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-- 
Jim Rovira
Ph.D. candidate, Drew University
Lecturer in English, Rollins College
http://thephilosopersstone.blogspot.com/