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In 1963 a film version was in the works; Salinger insisted the part of Esme be played by New Yorker humorist writer Peter DeVries's daughter Jan, but it never worked out. No kidding, hey. I goddam near fainted when I saw you at the hospital. You looked like a goddam corpse. How much weight ya lose? How many pounds? Ya know?"
Post-war stories full of post-war syndromes… Psychologically subtle stories of grownups and children… And all the tales are rich in irony… The success led to public attention and scrutiny: reclusive, he published new work less frequently. He followed with a short story collection, Nine Stories (1953), of a novella and a short story, Franny and Zooey (1961), and a collection of two novellas, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). His last published work, a novella entitled "Hapworth 16, 1924", appeared in The New Yorker on June 19, 1965. There is also some symbolism in the story which may be significant. Esmé’s watch, given to her by her father may symbolise hope. Just as the reader senses that Esmé’s father gave the watch to Esmé in the hope that things would be okay, likewise the reader suspects that Esmé too has given the watch to Sergeant X, in the hope that things will be okay. It is also possible that the watch symbolises a connection between Esmé and Sergeant X. By giving Sergeant X the watch, Esmé in many ways (and unlike some of the other characters in the story) is displaying her ability to understand or connect with Sergeant X. Though she is only thirteen she is one of the few, if not the only character, in the story who appears to show any understanding of the difficulties that Sergeant X may be experiencing. This understanding may possibly stem from the fact that Esmé, having lost her father in the war (in North Africa) is fully aware of the difficulties that a soldier will face while fighting. The inscription (Dear God, life is hell) that Sergeant X finds inside Goebbels’s book may also be symbolic. It is possible that Salinger is suggesting that war, regardless of what side a person is on, is hell. It may also be significant that when Sergeant X attempts to make his own inscription (a Dostoevsky quote) in the book he notices that his hand writing is illegible. It is possible that Salinger is suggesting that Sergeant X, through his experiences of the war, is unable to love (mankind) or at least has lost the ability to express himself. People well know this author for his reclusive nature. He published his last original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980. Reared in city of New York, Salinger began short stories in secondary school and published several stories in the early 1940s before serving in World War II. In 1948, he published the critically acclaimed story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" in The New Yorker, his subsequent home magazine. He released an immediate popular success. His depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence in the protagonist Holden Caulfield especially influenced adolescent readers. Widely read and controversial, sells a quarter-million copies a year.
And yet, Salinger’s is in effect a pop modernism: “For Esme” is at its heart a love story, not about a romance but about the profoundly life-affirming relationship between a soldier and a young girl. Because of the difference in age, Salinger is able to eschew the typical romantic trappings of similar boy-girl narratives; he writes not of love at first sight, but of human connection, positing two lonely souls who, during the course of a few brief minutes in an English tearoom on a rainy Saturday afternoon, share a moment that neither will ever forget. This collection of stories should be read over and over again. When I next read these stories I’ll discover something new about one of the characters or catch a new allusion or reference. What insights will I glean about the Glass family? When the prosecution rested and the defence opened, their lawyer would simply have issued a copy of Nine Stories to all 12 jurors and said "Ladies and gentlemen, I rest my case." because in the early 80s salinger was a huge fan of the sitcom mr. merlin which was based on the premise -- wait for it… wait for it... -- that merlin (yeah, that merlin) is alive and well in san francisco and working as a mechanic.
I'm training myself to be more compassionate. My aunt says I'm a terribly cold person," she said and felt the top of her head again. "I live with my aunt. She's an extremely kind person. Since the death of my mother, she's done everything within her power to make Charles and me feel adjusted." That cat was a spy. You had to take a pot shot at it. It was a very clever German midget dressed up in a cheap fur coat. So there was absolutely nothing brutal, or cruel, or dirty, or even –” It's one of the best riddles I've heard, though," I said, watching Charles, who was very gradually coming out of it. In response to this compliment, he sank considerably lower in his chair and again masked his face up to the eyes with a corner of the tablecloth. He then looked at me with his exposed eyes, which were full of slowly subsiding mirth and the pride of someone who knows a really good riddle or two.So, yeah, J.D. - after those stories, it's hard to imagine anything better. Even anything comparable. Staff Sergeant X's wife: At the beginning of the story, the narrator (Staff Sergeant X) remembers the name. X explains that they decided not to go to Esmé's wedding after talking to his wife. Just Before the War with the Eskimos" is a story about two girls who just played tennis. They go to prep school together. Ginnie, goes to Selena's house, asking for money she is owed, and talks to two guys there who change her mind make her more empathetic. In each of the nine stories, no emotion is spared, no sentiment is over or under stated, as the trials and tribulations of life are laid bare in simple texts with some strong and poignant themes running through all of them.
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