because in the early 80s salinger was a huge fan of the sitcom mr. merlin which was based on the premise -- wait for it… wait for it... -- that merlin (yeah, that merlin) is alive and well in san francisco and working as a mechanic.

For Esmé—with Love and Squalor" is a short story by J. D. Salinger. It recounts a sergeant's meeting with a young girl before being sent into combat in World War II. Originally published in The New Yorker on April 8, 1950, [1] it was anthologized in Salinger's Nine Stories two years later (while the story collection's American title is Nine Stories, it is titled as For Esmé—with Love & Squalor in most countries).Confession: I totally got into J.D. Salinger because of Robert Smith of The Cure. (According to youtube, there is a band named Bananafishbones.) Bananafishbones - The Cure Loretta was Clay's girl. They intended to get married at their earliest convenience. She wrote to him fairly regularly, from a paradise of triple exclamation points and inaccurate observations. All through the war, Clay had read all Loretta's letters aloud to X, however intimate they were--in fact, the more intimate, the better. It was his custom, after each reading, to ask X to plot out or pad out the letter of reply, or to insert a few impressive words in French or German. What does this have to do with the price of eggs? Well, it's the reason Jerome David Salinger makes me as mad as all get out. Because I can certainly understand why, given the perfection of the stories in this collection, any writer might not want to risk spoiling his reputation by following up with work that might not reach the same level. Hell, nothing could possibly reach the perfection of the stories, "For Esme - with Love and Squalor", "The Laughing Man", "Down by the Dinghy", or "Just Before the War with the Eskimos". And while I'm not really a great fan of Seymour Glass, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" is pretty damned awesome as well. I was about to press her for more details, but I felt Charles pinching me, hard, on my arm. I turned to him, wincing slightly. He was standing right next to me. "What did one wall say to the other wall?" he asked, not unfamiliarly. I am rereading Nine Stories by J.D. Salinger, titled by an English publisher For Esme: With Love and Squalor, reviewing my favorites separately along the way. “Esme” is one of those stories. The collection focuses on how the US was doing post WWII. Salinger was a veteran, having fought at the Battle of the Bulge and other famous battles. He also worked in counter-intelligence as well. When he was at the Battle of the Bulge he was carrying six chapters of the Catcher in the Rye, and he also wrote as many as twenty short stories during the war.

In Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes we meet an unfaithful wife and her lover, De Daumier-Smith’s Blue Period is about a brief touch of an aspiring young artist with the world of fine art and Teddy is tale of a whizz kid who is some kind of a spiritual freak… Chantal Joffe: For Esme – with Love and Squalor, explores the intimate act of painting and portraiture. Taking its name from J.D. Salinger’s short story For Esmé – with Love and Squalor (1950) in which time hangs as heavy as the protagonist’s ‘enormous-faced chronographic-looking wristwatch’, the exhibition captures the changing faces across the years of Chantal and her daughter Esme, moving between mother and daughter, love and squalor, and the act of care and being cared for. I always know if I REALLY like a book that is of VERY high quality if it makes me miss being in literature classes. This one, for example, made me desperately wish I were in one so I could debate “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes” for at LEAST one million years.When the prosecution rested and the defence opened, their lawyer would simply have issued a copy of Nine Stories to all 12 jurors and said "Ladies and gentlemen, I rest my case." Even the later 60s bother me. The grainy color footage of people waving goodbye to the train carrying RFK. My God. How Salinger gets mixed up in all THIS is beyond me.

Now, the narrator says, comes the "squalid, or moving, part of the story, and the scene changes." He is now in Bavaria, Germany, and V-E Day has taken place—though he writes about himself in the third person as Staff Sergeant X. He has had a nervous breakdown and has developed a significant palsy in his hands and his face is affected by muscular tics. He keeps to himself now, traumatized by his experiences in the war, and does not seem to take much interest in anything, even in his former friends. One friend invites him to come and listen to a radio program with some others, but Sergeant X declines.Miss Carpenter. Please. I know my business,” the young man said. “You just keep your eyes open for any bananafish. This is a perfect day for bananafish.” Not all the stories contain the potency of the two I mentioned. But each story deserves to be read thoughtfully and enjoyed fully, methodically, even reverently.

She nodded. "I thought you might," she said. "I'm quite communicative for my age." She gave her hair another experimental touch. "I'm dreadfully sorry about my hair," she said. "I've probably been hideous to look at." Oh Mr. Salinger, why couldn’t you have published more of these amazing stories in your life time???Esme nodded. "Father adored him." She bit reflectively at the cuticle of her thumb. "He looks very much like my mother--Charles, I mean. I look exactly like my father." She went on biting at her cuticle. "My mother was quite a passionate woman. She was an extrovert. Father was an introvert. They were quite well mated, though, in a superficial way. To be quite candid, Father really needed more of an intellectual companion than Mother was. He was an extremely gifted genius." Salinger, J. D; 野崎孝; Salinger, J. D; Salinger, J. D; Salinger, J. D; Salinger, J. D; Salinger, J. D; Salinger, J. D; Salinger, J. D (1988). ナイン ストーリーズ (in Japanese). 東京: 新潮社. ISBN 978-4-10-205701-8. OCLC 25496268. Having been put off reading ‘A Catcher in the Rye’, I thought this was a good way to sample J.D. Salinger, and what a thoroughly satisfying collection of short stories to ruminate and reflect on. To appraise, commend, and to even reason with. A book where all the characters and their stories felt real – too real which makes this collection all the more unforgettable. It doesn't have to be terribly prolific! Just so that it isn't childish and silly." She reflected. "I prefer stories about squalor." Salinger, J. D (1953). For Esme, with love and squalor: and other stories. London: Hamish Hamilton. OCLC 855687507.