For Esmé – with Love and Squalor
"For Esmé – with Love and Squalor" is a short story by J. D. Salinger. Originally published in The New Yorker on April 8, 1950, it was anthologized in Salinger's Nine Stories two years later (while the story collection's American title is Nine Stories, it is actually known as For Esmé - with Love & Squalor in most countries). For Esmé is an Army sergeant's (referred to only as Sergeant X) recollection of a meeting he had with a young girl, Esmé, before he was sent into combat. His strange but loving relationship with Esmé helps him to endure the squalor of war. Lack of purity and innocence in the adult world, love of childhood itself, and the power of words and writing are among the story's themes.
The short story was immediately popular with readers; less than two weeks after its publication, on April 20, Salinger "had already gotten more letters about For Esmé than he had for any story he had published."[1] The story was referred to by Salinger biographer Paul Alexander as a "minor masterpiece,"[1] and Time has called it "the warmest and best of the Nine Stories."[2]
[edit] References
- ^ a b Alexander, Paul (1999). Salinger: A Biography. Los Angeles: Renaissance. ISBN 1-58063-080-4. p. 144-5.
- ^ "Sonny: An Introduction". Time. 1961-09-15. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,938775,00.html. Retrieved 2007-04-12.
