![]() Franny & Zooey was the second collection of his short stories about the Glass Family, following Nine Stories published in 1953. Why it’s a classic: Franny and Zooey began life as two separate short stories, published in The New Yorker magazine in 19 respectively, and brought together in book form in 1961 – a decade after the stratospheric success of his novel The Catcher in the Rye had made him a literary celebrity. Zooey hangs up, and Franny lies in their parents’ bed, comforted by his words and smiling as she stares at the ceiling. Zooey shares with her some wisdom handed down from Seymour – that she should live with optimism, resume her passion for theatre, and continue to recite the Jesus Prayer if it comforts her. Franny eventually realises it is Zooey, but they continue to talk. He makes a phone call to Franny, pretending to be Buddy and speaks to her kindly. #SOOEY LANE SERIES#After upsetting her to tears, Zooey retreats to Buddy’s and Seymour’s old bedroom and reads a series of philosophical quotes posted on their bedroom door. Zooey employs various means to engage Franny, describing them both as damaged (as a result of Seymour and Buddy corrupting their minds with quasi-Buddhist philosophy), accusing her of selfishness and questioning her motives for reciting the Jesus Prayer. ![]() Now in adulthood, Seymour is dead, and another brother Walter was killed during World War II Buddy is now estranged from the family and teaches English at a women’s college in upstate New York another brother, Waker, has become a Roman Catholic monk and only their sister Boo-Boo lives a comparatively happy life as a suburban housewife and mother.Īfter Bessie leaves, Zooey gets dressed and goes into the living room, where Franny is lying on the sofa with the family cat Bloomberg. Through the course of their conversation, we learn that Bessie and her husband Les are retired vaudeville performers, and that the Glass children were once stars of a popular radio programme It’s A Wise Child. Bessie ignores his abuse, but tells him he is too judgmental and intimidates others easily, and wonders why her once “happy and loving” children are now unravelling. Zooey bickers with and insults his mother, and makes frequent requests for her to leave him alone. Zooey’s mother Bessie comes into the bathroom, and they have a long conversation about Franny, who appears to have had a nervous breakdown and is refusing to eat. Zooey sits in the bathtub in his family home, smoking cigarettes and reading a four-year old letter from his elder brother Buddy, which discusses their elder brother Seymour’s suicide several years earlier. The second story, “Zooey”, focuses on Franny’s elder brother Zachary (“Zooey”) Glass, a 25 year-old television actor and the youngest surviving son of the family. Lane goes to call a taxi to take Franny back to her lodgings, leaving her alone, silently reciting the Jesus Prayer. Franny faints and regains consciousness in a back room of the restaurant. Lane shows little interest, and pushes Franny to finish her lunch, anxious that they not be late for a collegiate party and football game. Franny explains that the book, The Way of a Pilgrim, describes a Russian mystic learning the power of “praying without ceasing”, and tells Lane that she has been practising the prayer “Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on me” like a mantra. Lane questions her about a small green book she has been carrying. After complaining of feeling faint, she excuses herself and goes to the bathroom where she cries for five minutes, then regains her composure and returns to the table. ![]() Franny attempts to be interested in Lane’s stories of college life, but quickly grows bored and peevish, and refuses to eat her chicken sandwich. After dropping Franny’s bags at a boarding house, Lane takes her to lunch at a fashionable restaurant. In the first story, “Franny”, 20 year-old college undergraduate Franny Glass arrives by train for a weekend visit with her boyfriend Lane. What it’s about: New York City, the 1950s. ![]() Salinger’s novella about the neurotic youngest siblings of the Glass Family, living in luxurious despair in 1950s New York City. ![]()
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