By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Down at the Dinghy’ is a short story by J. D. Salinger, originally published in 1949. As in some of Salinger’s other stories, notably ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’, ‘Down at the Dinghy’ involves an adult speaking to a child. However, in this case the theme of the story – which remains largely in the background until the end of the story – is anti-Semitism.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes’ is a short story by J. D. Salinger, first published in 1951. The story details a phone conversation between two men, Arthur and Lee, following a party. Arthur is worried that his wife is having an affair and Lee attempts to calm down his friend over the phone, encouraging him to calm down and wait for his wife to get home.
The plot of ‘Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes’ is fairly easy to summarise; but the story itself raises some curious questions about Salinger’s depiction of the two main male characters. Before we come to the analysis, though, here’s a brief rundown of the story’s plot.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’ is one of J. D. Salinger’s best-known and most widely studied short stories. First published in the New Yorker in 1948, the story is a masterclass in how to reveal both character and plot through elliptical and suggestive dialogue, with the ‘action’ largely focusing on two scenes: one in a hotel room and the other on a beach. These two scenes are then brought together for the story’s tragic denouement.
By Dr Oliver Tearle (Loughborough University)
The Catcher in the Rye is one of the most influential American novels published in the mid-twentieth century. Upon its publication in 1951, J. D. Salinger’s only full-length novel became something of a cult, helping to inspire the Beat Generation and powerfully capturing a moment in American cultural history.
Salinger had worked on the manuscript for a number of years: he had drafts of The Catcher in the Rye in his backpack when he fought at D-Day in 1944.