Books 1/11/04
I just finished Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger- breaking with the habit I wrote of a couple of posts ago, I picked it up to read in the bath and actually continued reading it when I got out. I’ve read it a number of times before, but not recently, so I figured I’d finish it again. I love these characters- all of the Glass family. I first picked this book up after seeing The Royal Tenenbaums, I reread all the previous Glass family books and read this one for the first time. They’re just such fully formed characters that I have trouble remembering that they haven’t always existed.
This read through I was struck again by the discussion of Christ- and specifically Zooey’s protestations that Franny sees him as a combination of St. Francis of Assisi, Seymour, and someone else all rolled into one. I think this happens often- we read that He was perfect, so our view of Him is our version of perfection- (in Franny’s case, St. Francis and Seymour), which is not neccesarily what He was. As long as we stick with that view we can’t see what He was trying to teach us about what perfection actually is.
That and that Franny wanted her experience with God to be trancendent, taking her away from all the morons, when Zooey knew that to experience God means continuing life with a “Christ-conciousness” ( I think that was his term)- seeing all the morons as God sees them.
Thats all my thoughts for now.
Book Count: 4
Just Finished: Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger
Next Up: Oh who knows?