Shortly after Salinger's death The New York Times published an article about his life and his books. This is what they had to say about Nine Stories.
Many critics were more admiring of “Nine Stories,” which came out in 1953 and helped shape writers like Mr. Roth, John Updike and Harold Brodkey. The stories were remarkable for their sharp social observation, their pitch-perfect dialogue (Mr. Salinger, who used italics almost as a form of musical notation, was a master not of literary speech but of speech as people actually spoke it) and the way they demolished whatever was left of the traditional architecture of the short story — the old structure of beginning, middle, end — for an architecture of emotion, in which a story could turn on a tiny alteration of mood or irony. Mr. Updike said he admired “that open-ended Zen quality they have, the way they don’t snap shut.”
I completely agree that Salinger had an amazing quality in dialogue between his characters, but am not sure about the "Zen" qualities. I understand some stories are left open-ended and don't "snap shut", but I think saying Nine Stories has a Zen quality is pushing it. If anything, I am upset after reading stories in Nine Stories, and certainly do not have a peaceful Zen feeling.
-Shira
I understand how the endings to the stories such as "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and "The Laughing Man" fail to leave the reader with a "Zen" feeling due to the plot. However, when Mr. Updike said he admired "that open-ended Zen quality they have...", I believe he was referring to Salinger's style of writing. For most of the time, the dialogue between characters were mundane and lacked action. They were simple, regular conversations. I think there's nothing more peaceful than to know that everything is normal and nothing is out of the ordinary. It is for this reason that I think Salinger's stories do have a "Zen" quality.
ReplyDeleteI also agree that the conversations are Zen and are the most peaceful part of the stories. However, I don't agree with the "open-ended Zen quality" the critic talks about from the endings of the stories.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Shira that the stories leave some types of readers (myself included) with a frustrated sense rather than a peaceful "Zen" feeling. However, I think that the reason the stories supposedly have that Zen quality is not because they are peaceful, but because they are so open-ended. There are countless ways to interpret each story that Salinger presents us with, and the philosophical meaning behind the Zen concept connects with his stories well.
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