Details
Synopsis
Two long short stories about Salinger's Glass family, previously published in The New Yorker. Both stories are about the life and tragic death of Seymour Glass, the eldest of the Glass children, and his siblings' reaction to it. The events are seen through the eyes of Seymour's brother Buddy, who is often said to be a portrait of Salinger himself. His rambling narrative is revealing of himself as well as of his brother, and explores the quest for enlightenment and wisdom that preoccupies both of them.
| Size | | Length: | 248 pages | | Height: | 7.8 in | | Width: | 5.0 in | | Thickness: | 0.8 in | | Weight: | 8.8 oz |
Publisher's Notes
First Line: "One night some twenty years ago, during a siege of mumps in our enormous family, my youngest sister, Franny, was moved, crib and all, into the ostensibly germ-free room I shared with my eldest brother, Seymour."
Industry Reviews
"Hopelessly prolix, both of these stories are marred by the self-indulgence of a writer flirting with depths of wisdom, yet coy and embarrassed in his advances. With their cozy parentheses and clumsy footnotes, their careening mixture of Jewish vaudeville humor and Buddhist prescription, they betray a loss of creative discipline, a surrender to cherished mannerisms. And as the world of Salinger comes more fully into view, it seems increasingly open to critical attack. It is hard to believe in Seymour's saintliness, hard even to credit him as a fictional character, for we are barely able to see him at all behind the palpitations of Buddy's memory."
New York Times Book Review - Irving Howe (04/07/1963)
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