J. D. Salinger_ A Life - Kenneth Slawenski [83]
Unexpectedly single again, Salinger sought to soothe his disappointment by dating as many women as possible. According to a later article in Time magazine, Salinger “brought an astonishing collection of girls to the Village” in 1946. He reportedly stationed himself in the drugstore of the Barbizon Hotel, where he successfully “bagged with unobtrusive efficiency” a wide assortment of attractive residents. It is unlikely that Salinger was seeking serious romance so soon after his failed marriage. He rarely dated a girl more than once and was not above employing a playful ruse to get a date. According to Time, he actually told one prospective girlfriend that he was a goalie for the Montreal Canadiens.19
Another account of Salinger at this time was recorded by the author A. E. Hotchner, who knew him through the Congdon poker group and would occasionally accompany him on his nights out on the town. At the time, Hotchner was a struggling freelance writer and was fascinated by Salinger’s intensity, but he found that Jerry always seemed to keep him at arm’s length:
I never felt that he was a friend, he was too remote for friendship, but on a few occasions he invited me along on one of his night-clubbing sprees.… On these occasions, we stayed up late drinking beer and enjoying the endless parade of beginning performers, some of whom were destined to have successful careers. In between the acts, Jerry talked, mostly about writing and writers, but sometimes he took on institutions, like the posh schools that had dismissed him, country clubs … and so forth.20
Remembering Salinger as having “an ego of cast iron,” Hotchner was impressed by Salinger’s dedication to his craft and struck by his conviction that he was destined for greatness. “He was an original,” Hotchner recalled, “and I found his intellectual flailings enormously attractive, peppered as they were with sardonic wit and a myopic sense of humor.”
Salinger’s reaction to Hotchner was typical. He saw it as his role to instruct Hotchner in the art of writing, despite the fact that he was only a year Hotchner’s senior. Salinger’s attitude might appear arrogant (and on some level it probably was) but Hotchner credited Salinger with teaching him about writing from the heart. One example he gave is especially interesting. It not only reveals something of Salinger’s concept of his own writing but also involves “The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls.” Hotchner claimed to have written a story named “An Ocean Full of Bowling Balls” and accused his friend of stealing the title. Though it is doubtful that Salinger would have found such a title irresistible, Hotchner gave no indication that he ever denied the accusation. Instead, Salinger defended himself by comparing the relative merits of the two “Bowling Balls” stories (and another by Hotchner entitled “Candle in the Poolroom Window”). Of Hotchner’s pieces, Salinger apparently said, “There’s no hidden emotion in these stories. No fire between the words.”21
Salinger insisted, perhaps condescendingly, that Hotchner was writing of things he knew nothing about and needed to place himself in his stories. “Writing as an art is experience magnified,” he declared. It was a criticism that Hemingway would also make of Hotchner and one that Hotchner took to heart. The most interesting aspect of Hotchner’s account is the words Salinger chose. He did not advise Hotchner to embed fire “into” his words but rather to place the fire “between” them, an indication that true meaning should be felt by the reader rather than dictated by the author. It is a singularly Salingeresque concept and a component that distinguishes his writings. Whether or not Hotchner perceived the nuance is uncertain, but Salinger’s words express his writing philosophy with precision and were without doubt chosen deliberately.
The Greenwich