I have this quite new boxed set of the Salinger books. All my Salingers were the worse for wear and I “needed” a new set, I decided. I pulled out this one because I am reading short stories and decided that it is possible to read several books of short stories at the same time. I have read Nine Stories a long time ago, maybe before I was in college in the 1960s. For some reason I idealized J.S. Salinger in those days, probably because he was such an evasive recluse. I didn’t know at the time that I would one day have unfulfilled yearnings to be a recluse. Or maybe it was just to be J.D. Salinger. When I was in college I went to the undergraduate library (I think it was called the UGLI – like ugly) and copied some of his early stories out of original copies of the Saturday Evening Post with Norman Rockwell illustrations on the cover. I lovingly typed these stories out on my Hermes portable and attached them to rather insipid essays about Salinger that did not impress my teachers more than a C+. One kind professor noted that the stories did not add much to my papers. I was so “over the moon” about Salinger that I could have cared less. I kept these papers packed away in some box in the closet for years. (No, they are not still in my parent’s attic.)It has been such a long time since I have read Salinger that I had one of those remembering-as-you-read experiences. You know, where you remember the story as you read it but not before. And these nine stories are really short and go zip, zip, zip, done. It almost seemed like there had never been a time when I had not read the stories already. It is fun just to read the titles of the stories without even reading the stories. But do go back and read the stories in order preferably. Unless you have a favorite order you prefer. I firmly believe that stories are placed in a certain order for a reason and that we should give that reason a fair opportunity. I think Salinger has a good deal of whimsy and is not really all that deep – if you allow him not to be. Others, however, think him quite deep, befitting his fame. I think a lot of people like to try to put him together after they have read ALL of his work – to assess him as a whole. On the other hand, some are satisfied to read ALL the books about him – and there are many – and consider what friends, relatives, lovers, researchers (there are some of each) thought of him. Frankly, if someone has nothing better to do than hang out at the small town post office hoping to get a good picture of Salinger, how could he have anything significant to say about the man? The guy was a special case, that is for sure. And he did mention galoshes more than once. Once was in the story For Esme – with Love and Squalor: A dozen or so adults were among the pews, several of them bearing pairs of small-size rubbers, soles up, in their laps. I passed along and sat down in the front row. On the rostrum, seated in three compact rows of auditorium chairs, were about twenty children, mostly girls, ranging in age from about seven to thirteen. At the moment, their choir coach, an enormous woman in tweeds, was advising them to open their mouths wider when they sang. Had anyone, she asked, ever heard of a little dickybird that dared to sing his charming song without opening his little beak wide, wide, wide? Apparently nobody ever had. She was given a steady, opaque look. She went on to say that she wanted all her children to absorb the meaning of the words they sang, not just mouth them, like silly-billy parrots. She then blew a note on her pitch pipe, and the children, like so many underage weight-lifters, raised their hymn-books. Yes, whimsy. But deep only in the larger context of his complete work if you are determined to delve into the Glass family. To belabor the whimsy aspect of Salinger I offer the following from De Daumier-Smith’s Blue Period: All three students assigned to me were English-language students. The first was a twenty-three-year-old Toronto housewife, who said her professional name was Bambi Kramer, and advised the school to address her mail accordingly. All new students at Les Amis Vieux Maitres were requested to fill out questionnaire forms and to enclose photographs of themselves. Miss Kramer had enclosed a glossy eight by ten print of herself wearing an anklet, a strapless bathing suit, and a white-duck sailor’s cap. On her questionnaire form she stated that her favorite artists were Rembrandt and Walt Disney. She said she only hoped that she could some day emulate them. Her sample drawings were clipped, rather subordinately, to her photograph. All of them were arresting. One of them was unforgettable. The unforgettable one was done in florid wash colors with a caption that read: “Forgive Them Their Trespasses.” It showed three small boys fishing in an odd-looking body of water, one of their jackets draped over a “No Fishing!” sign. The tallest boy, in the foreground of the picture, appeared to have rickets in one leg and elephantiasis in the other – an effect, it was clear, that Miss Kramer had deliberately used to show that the boy was standing with his feet slightly apart. This is surely Salinger at his whimsyest! I have been surprised at how enjoyable it has been to read Salinger after all these years. I am looking forward to reading the other books of the Big Four. My recollection is that I thought that they were somewhat obscure when I read them years ago – not enticing – but that I have continued to be enticed by his manufactured mystery over the years. He has been more of an icon than an award winner.Years ago I gave Nine Stories three stars. After this read I have no problem awarding four stars and would probably have gone for five stars if I was more impressed with its literary stature. While I loved reading it, I was not overly impressed with its depth. This book gets a good solid 4.19 average of GR ratings. I suspect it gets a lot a reflected glory from The Catcher in the Rye.I look forward to dipping back into Salinger – his writing and his mystery/history – in the coming months. I wonder if I will be able to overcome the aura that he brings with him from the past. He definitely has a place in my emotions more than in my rational self!When people want to talk about the depth of Salinger, I guess they always want to talk about the “Vendantic theory of reincarnation.” Me, I just liked the whimsy. You can go to http://www.shmoop.com/teddy-book/mort... if you want depth.
Everyone has his or her own personal journey to follow. As a friend or relative, you can be there for them, offer advice and caution them when you see danger, but in the end, each person has to make a choice about how to live their lives. Only something inside of you will make a difference in you.Just like Nemo and Marlin in Finding Nemo.I finished J.D. Salinger’s Nine Stories last night. I find that I enjoy reading Salinger. Unlike my experience with Virginia Woolf, who writes beautiful and pointedly, but with such verbosity and content that it is hard to get through it all. I should be done with Mrs. Dalloway sometime around the turn of the next decade.This was my first sampling of Salinger’s work but I think I’d like to read some of his other stuff as well, perhaps Catcher in the Rye. “Teddy,” the last story in this collection of short stories was a compelling story about a boy-genius who was so very enlightened that he had a memory of his previous life. Though his parents where not Hindus or Buddhists, he believed in reincarnation.Salinger introduces the boy with this charming description:“Teddy turned around at the waist, without changing the vigilant position of his feet on the Gladstone, and gave his father a look of inquiry, whole and pure. His eyes which were pale brown in color, and not at all large, were slightly crossed–the left eye more than the right. They were not crossed enough to be disfiguring or even to be necessarily noticeable at first glance. They were crossed just enough to be mentioned, and only in context with the fact that one might have thought long and seriously before wishing them straighter, or deeper, or browner, or wider set. His face, just as it was, carried the impact, however oblique and slow-traveling, of real beauty.”Later in the story, it is revealed that he has the ability to predict when a person could possibly die, and in fact reveals that he himself may die that day or later on Feb. 14, 1958.He is completely resigned to the idea of death, as he did not see it as an end to his being but only as a transformation. I think this is an interesting concept. It is true that death is a natural part of the cycle. Everyone dies, “My gosh, everyone’s done it thousands and thousands of times.” Teddy explains.Seems morbid but it actually makes me feel a bit lighter. Like this idea frees you from the fight. It allows a person to enjoy each moment because it could be the last one you have in this lifetime.Teddy was explaining this to a man, about his own potential death and how it wouldn’t be all that tragic because he’d “just be doing what he was suppose to do after all.” The man replied, “It may not be tragic from your point of view, but it would certainly be a sad event for your mother and dad.”Teddy answered, “But that is only because they have names and emotions for everything that happens.”I don’t have a complete conclusion to this whole idea. It all seems so simple and complex at the same time, it did however get me thinking about life and the names we attach to things.I highly recommend the shorts stories. They are all wonderful and weird in their own way.
What do You think about Nine Stories (2001)?
همیشه داستان کوتاهها رو میذارم برای وقتی که توی مستراحم. اساسا یکی از لحظات افتخارآمیز زندگی هر کسی میتونه این باشه که موقع بیرون اومدن از مستراح، اشک شوق توی چشماش جمع شه و لذت ببره از اینکه به جای زور زدن و سرخ و سیاه شدن، تونسته با آرامش یه داستان کوتاه رو تموم کنه. بعد این وسط گاهی نویسندهها، انگار که خبر داشته باشن که خواننده کجاست، رو دست میزنن به آدم و شروع میکنن به رقابت در کاری داری انجام میدی. یکی از همین نویسندهها جی. دی. سلینجر خودمون هست که یکی از مزخرفترین مجموعههای داستانیش رو کتاب کرده زیر عنوان: نه داستان یا همون دلتنگیهای نقاش خیابان چهل و هشتم. نکتهی جالب اینکه ترجمهی این کار هم یکی از زشتترین ترجمههایی بود که توی چند سال اخیر خونده بودم. یعنی متن ترجمه ضمن وفاداری به متن اصلی، چنان فارسی بیخاصیت و غلطی داره که توی بعضی از بخشها واقعا توهم برم میداشت که نویسنده و مترجم خبر دارن که کتاب کجا خونده میشه. این قضیه همینجور ادامه داشت تا رسیدیم به داستان تقدیم به ازمه با عشق و نکبت. بالاخره یه داستان استخوندار با چند تا شخصیتِ خوب توی یه فضای معرکه پا گرفتن توی ذهن. و بعد از اون خودِ داستان دلتنگیهای نقاش... که باز کاری بود دوستداشتنی. قصهی قصهی یه اسنوبِ دوستداشتنی هست که برای تدریس پا میشه میره کانادا و بقیه قضایا. همین دو تا داستان برای رستگار شدن این کتاب کافیه، مخصوصا اگه بشه متن اصلیشون رو گیر آورد.
—Amir
به اون خوبی که فکرمیکردم نبود اما داستان "تقدیم به ازمه" اونقدر عالی بود که به خاطراون امتیاز سه دادم.داستان دلتنگی های نقاش هم خوب و جالب بود.باوجودی که داستان کوتاههایی که غافلگیری دارند رو دوست دارم،اما داستانای این مجموعه هم عجیب به دلم می نشست.یک طنز خاص سلینجری داشت که دوست داشتنی بود،حتی برای منی که خیلی دوست ندارم سلینجر رو.طرح جلد،اسم کتاب و اسم داستانا هم عالی بودند.واقعا بیست می دهم بهشون.خلاقیتی که توی اسم گذاری داستانها به کار رفته خارق العاده است و ازاین اسم ها برای عنوان خاطراتم استفاده میکنم،مخصوصا"یک روز خوش برای موزماهی":) با وجودی که داستانش را خیلی دوست نداشتم.
—Susan
Creative writing teachers the world over who deserve the title should have a portrait of Salinger hanging in their office above the words of that shop-worn classroom mantra "Show, don't tell." In this book Salinger does an incredible job of telling stories between the lines of the physical words on the page. A truly monumental event occurred in the tadpole household as I was reading this book. That event was that my wife also picked it up and started reading behind me. Usually, I think that if she is attracted to the cover of something that I have left sitting around, such as a Ballard title, Cormac McCarthy, whatever, she might pick it up and flip through it briefly before thinking "Silly boys..." and running back to Edith Wharton and D.H. Lawrence. We have had a lot of fun getting into discussions that bordered on debates over what each of these stories actually meant to us.'A Perfect Day for Bananafish' is like a literary kick in the stomach...but in a good way. I read that story in the afternoon and stumbled around the house for the rest of the evening in its wake. At that point I knew that I must read everything by Salinger.Of course that story seems to be the universal favorite, but if we set it aside I am curious which story emerges as the next favorite for everyone? For my wife I would guess that it would be either 'Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut' or 'Just Before the War With the Eskimoes.' My favorite would probably be 'The Laughing Man,' but it could be 'For Esme...' or 'De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period' if you ask me again tomorrow.I feel like a bit of an ass giving this book four stars, as it is at the very least 4.99. My problem was with the last story, 'Teddy'. Something about that story did not sit well with me. The ending seemed a little abrupt and too sudden to be totally believable. Also I have a bit of a problem when Salinger starts trying to work some of his Eastern philosophical musings into his writing (more on this after I finish 'Franny and Zooey'). Was there something huge that I missed in this story? If 'Teddy' would have been left out and the book was entitled 'Eight Stories', I would most likely go all papal edict on everyone and declare this book the greatest short story collection ever. If anyone else feels the same way perhaps this will give that person a fresh outlook on 'Teddy' as being the story that kept me from going all fanboy and annoying everyone.
—Matt
