The Laughing man by J.D Salinger

This thesis investigates the drafts of J.D. Salinger’s short story, “I’m Crazy,” a precursor to the author’s famous novel The Catcher in the Rye. The drafts clearly outline the evolution of the creation of the distinct narrative voice found in Catcher and also show the story’s narrative transformation to “skaz” narration. “I’m Crazy” has been overlooked by many Salinger critics and is only considered important by a select few due to the eventual inclusion of the story’s content in the novel. The significance of the short story with regards to the novel’s narrative technique and voice has been largely underestimated and neglected. In this thesis I will offer a comparison of the drafts’ paragraphs with the corresponding passages in the published version of the short story and novel. In an attempt to combine genetic criticism with a postclassical narrative approach, I will complement my interpretations of the typescripts with a narrative analysis of their content and technique. Despite the lack of prior research containing narratological observation within genetic criticism, the significance of combining narrative analysis with manuscript studies has been suggested by several genetic criticism scholars. In order to retrace possible influences on the change in narrative style and technique, I will make use of personal communication between the author and Ernest Hemingway, as well as reported dialogue and comments made by Salinger. With this thesis I aim to contribute to the growing field of critique génétique and offer a postclassical narratological approach in interpreting the evolution of a text and its main character.

Thesis

Edizioni Trauben, 2015

revagrois.ro

Canadian Review of American Studies, 2009

Jack Kerouac believed that his French Canadian roots held the key to his knowledge, despite the fact that he became known as the ''principal avatar'' of a generation of American youth. In his bestselling autobiographical novel, On the Road, Kerouac splits his ethnic (French) and national (American) sides into two figures, Sal and Dean, to demonstrate the deficits and benefits of both parts of a hyphenated identity. Italian Sal sees himself as the eternal outsider, whereas Dean is America itself. Yet Sal uses his outsider qualities to connect with other outsiders whose ''roots'' are beyond the limits of nationhood. And Dean, despite the seemingly endless freedom of his ''routes'' across the country, is stuck in old tropes of Americanness that do not afford him new possibilities. Together, they create a vision of America that is full of its own grandeur, while refusing to be insular.

Considers the story of "An Encounter" an allegory of Young Ireland's relationship with Daniel O'Connell, and the fragmentation of its members with the arrival of the Irish Famine.