[Bananafish] WSJ Article

[James Rovira]

Ha...no.  Maynard was, what, 18?  And intelligent?  Any 18 year old
girl involved with a married man knows what she's doing, even those
that aren't that smart.  Of course Salinger has feet of clay, and of
course he doesn't look good in this either.  My point was that neither
does Maynard.  If she's playing the victim 30-40 years after the fact,
that means one of two things:

1. she hasn't moved beyond being an 18 year old girl still lying to
herself about her own sexual agency.

2. she does know better, and knows better enough to make money from it.

Another question: why didn't she speak up until now?  Probably because
her career benefits more from selling out JDS than it would from
protecting him, which is why she didn't sell out earlier: to benefit
her career -then-.  Sell Out.

Margaret Salinger is another story, in my opinion.  She really was a
child, and his child, in his house.  She didn't really have choices
regarding JDS growing up.  When I read Margaret's work --but I don't
think I ever finished it--she sounded to me like Jewish mother looking
back on her own childhood with a Jewish mother's perspective.  She
also sounded like less of a victim, trying to explain a lot in JDS's
life.

Jim R