Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters/Seymour – J. D. Salinger (1959) (1st ed)

S$70.00

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters/Seymour – J. D. Salinger (1959) (1st ed)

S$70.00

Title: Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenter and Seymour: An Introduction

Author: J. D. Salinger

Publisher: Little, Brown and Company, 1959. Stated first edition.

Condition: Hardcover, with dust jacket. Good. Some small tears to dust jacket, inscription to ffep.

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About the book (from Wikipedia):

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction is a single volume featuring two novellas by J. D. Salinger, which were previously published in The New Yorker: Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters (1955) and Seymour: An Introduction (1959). Little, Brown republished them in this anthology in 1963. It was the first time the novellas had appeared in book form. The book was the third best-selling novel in the United States in 1963, according to Publishers Weekly.

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters is narrated by Buddy Glass, the second of the Glass brothers. It describes Buddy’s visit on Army leave (during World War II, in 1942) to attend the wedding of his brother Seymour to Muriel and tells of the aftermath when Seymour fails to show. The events set the stage for Seymour’s suicide in 1948. Seymour is described through the eyes of Buddy and through those of the would-be wedding’s attendants. Included is the Matron of Honor, a loud and burly woman whom Buddy meets in a car leaving the site of the wedding.

Seymour: An Introduction represents an attempt by Buddy Glass to introduce the reader to his brother Seymour, who had committed suicide in 1948. The story is told in a stream of consciousness narrative as Buddy reminisces in his secluded home. This story, like others concerning the Glass family, touches upon Zen Buddhism, haiku, and the Hindu philosophy of Vedanta.