Franny and Zooey
|
Franny and Zooey is a 1961 novel by J. D. Salinger, best known for The Catcher in the Rye.
The novel consists of two different but related stories, Franny and Zooey which take place in 1955. The stories originally appeared in The New Yorker magazine. Franny and Zooey are members of the Glass family, a frequent focus of Salinger's writings. Salinger writes about the Glass family in Raise High the Roof-Beam, Carpenters, Seymour -- An Introduction, Hapworth 16, 1924 and A Perfect Day for Bananafish which is part of Nine Stories.
Franny
Franny is the story of Franny Glass's date with her pretentious boyfriend, Lane Coutell. They have a dinner of frogs' legs before going to a football game and he talks about his "A" paper on Flaubert as she begins to feel sick. She tells him about a book she's been reading, The Way of a Pilgrim and the story climaxes as she faints.
Zooey
Zooey is set about a day after Franny. The story begins with Zooey, soaking in a tub, reading a four-year-old letter from his brother Buddy. His mother, Bessie enters the bathroom, and the two have a long discussion, much of which consists of Bessie's worries about Franny, who is suffering a sort of emotional breakdown. After Bessie leaves, Zooey gets dressed and leaves for the day. Later that night, Zooey, pretending to be his brother Buddy, telephones Franny, and gives her words of advice concerning her breakdown.