[Bananafish] Nine Stories

[James Rovira]

Best thesis I've heard about Teddy yet: it is a dead dog story.  Teddy
is Salinger's dead dog.

Jim

PS Too bad it's not a dead cat story.


>
> I also have a personal speculation about "Teddy." Perhaps oddly, I'm
> fascinated by Salinger's relationship with his dog, Benny. He adopted the
> shnauzer while living in Germany in 1945 and adored him beyond measure. But
> I can find no true reference to the dog after the end of 1952. This makes me
> wonder whether Teddy's story of Sven's dog (and his diary entry that he
> would not want a dog himself and risk suffering the pain of seperation) does
> not indicate that Benny died about this time and reflects Salinger's own
> grief.
> I said it was odd.
>