Letter 14: A Girl I Knew
By J.D. Salinger
Dear Reader,
Hello there, I’m so glad that you could make it. Welcome to The Lindsay Letters.
You can think of this newsletter sort of like a letter exchange, in that Classic, Gothic, Romantic with a capital “R” kind of way. Every Monday, Tuesday, or another day (but hopefully once a week!), you’ll receive this newsletter where I talk about something related to writing craft. The topic could be something that I recently learned, something that I recently watched, something that I recently read, or just something that’s been on my mind.
I hope that in this exchange, we can learn something new about the world, our art, or ourselves.
Thank you for wanting to come on this journey with me. And if you’re not subscribed yet:
Now onto the letter.
Photo by David Monje on Unsplash
Reader,
Firstly, I apologize for not being able to get out a newsletter last week. This month has been, in all sincerity, one of the busiest months of my life. Busy in both the best and worst ways, mind you, with outings with friends and deadlines for work (and an impending book release) shaking hands and saying, “We’re going to make life very hard right now.”
However, I would also like to say that this has quickly become one of my favorites of all the things I write. Sharing stories with you and little tidbits of things has given me no small amounts of joy. I hope that moving forward, I will not miss any more newsletters, even if the result is a small “Hello! This newsletter will be quite short.” I want to make sure something gets out to you every week.
Now that my apology is out of the way, let me tell you about my favorite piece of writing ever written:
J.D. Salinger, who famously wrote The Catcher in the Rye, is a divisive author. Amongst my friends, people either adore or despise his writing. This is mainly attributed to Holden, his protagonist, being something of a controversial character. He is whiny, indecisive, and abrasive. But he is also relatable, angsty, and sincere.
In my high school, everyone was required to read The Catcher in the Rye (required reading is another conversation altogether). When I read it, I was captivated by the simple way that Salinger managed to showcase the complex world through the eyes of a teenager.
However, I don’t plan on discussing The Catcher in the Rye today. Instead, I plan on talking about another piece of his: a piece that was never even published.
Salinger was a very private author. He was socially anxious and incredibly anit-press. As a result, he wrote multiple manuscripts and short stories that never made their way to publication. And many still haven’t.
The short story I want to talk to you about today is titled “A Girl I Knew.”
“A Girl I Knew” is a semi-autobiographical short story about a protagonist who, after graduating from school, is sent to Vienna by his parents. While there, he meets a girl who he falls in love with.
I initially found this story by accident.
It was my senior year of high school, and I was browsing the internet for some of “The best-written quotes of all time.” This was during the advent of my writing journey when poetry first started to captivate me.
While searching, I came across this quote from “A Girl I Knew.”
And before you read it, brace yourself:
She wasn’t doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.
Immediately I was blown away by this quote. The air left my lungs; my eyes started to well up, and I began to cry.
I thought to myself, if I can write a single line this powerful in my life, I will have made it as an author.
I immediately had to read the short story, and oh boy, it did not disappoint. I couldn’t believe that something so tender, so honest, and so melancholic could be written and never published.
Here’s another quote from the story that I still think about often:
Probably for every man there is at least one city that sooner or later turns into a girl. How well or how badly the man actually knew the girl doesn’t necessarily affect the transformation. She was there, and she was the whole city, and that’s that.
Like, come on.
How do you come up with this stuff?
But what he wrote in this story, I could feel. And if that isn’t the goal of writing, I’m not quite sure what is.
Almost ten years later, I still think about it.
About how to this protagonist, someone could hold the universe. Wouldn’t you want to be written about that way? I sure would.
Photo by Tony L on Unsplash
Reader,
There are so many more reasons why this is my favorite piece of writing. More technical aspects and craft talk that I could probably devote a whole blog to in the future.
In the meantime, I want to tell you about the impact this has had on me.
As I mentioned earlier, ten years later, I still think about this short story.
To me, the two of them are suspended in that moment: Him looking at her. Her holding the universe together.
It has inspired my writing since. The book of poetry I am currently editing (the final draft!) is partly inspired by this short story.
Unfortunately, to not ruin the surprise, that’s all I can say for now.
But till the book’s release, I firmly suggest reading this short story. It’s well worth it. I’ll link it again here:
And lastly, I would like to leave you with a question: Has there been a quote from a story you couldn’t get off your mind? A story that you read while you were younger and it still resonates with you today?
I’d love to hear about it.
And as always, thank you for reading, Reader. I hope you have a lovely week.
-JC
Thank you for recommending J D Salinger's A GIRL I KNEW and reminding me how much I was a fan of Mr. Salinger. I read Catcher in the Rye as a young man, many, many years ago. I remember fondly. I was a teenager in the mid-1950's, living on the East Coast. I related to this book! Very much!
Later, I read FRANNY AND ZOOEY. Recently, I acquired NINE STORIES and have read seven of the nine. I will now get back to that book and finish all nine stories.
JC, knowing me, you should know I love his dialog. His phrasing. His turning a story around at the end.
Only when you get older will you truly appreciate A GIRL I KNEW. There is one in all of our lives.
In the late 1960's Hollywood. I met that girl. Although we never had a fulfilling relationship she will always be in my thoughts and memories of Hollywood and my time chasing rainbows there. She was the pot of gold that was always elusive. Even to the end of her life when we rediscovered each other . . . Somewhere over the rainbow. And then she was gone.
There was another moment in A GIRL I KNEW that reminded me of another incident. I was living in Hollywood in one of those old Hollywood apartment buildings. An efficiency apartment on Bronson Avenue just off of Franklin Avenue.
I opened the door to enter my apartment and there on the window sill, directly across from me was a man just entering through the window. We both stopped, looking at each other. We were both thinking, now what should I do? He did the wise thing and turned and jumped back out of the window. I stood there, frozen in my tracks, thinking, I should do something. I didn't. I counted to ten then ran to the window shouting, "You better run. I'm coming after you! You are a dead man!" Of course he was long gone by then. I did not chase after him. He was not a dead man. Unless he was accidentally run over by a car during his escape.
In writing about it later, I wrote something like this: As I opened the door to my apartment, I saw a man coming through the window. I did a forward roll to a secure place behind the sofa while drawing my gun from its' hiding place behind my back. I came up firing. The man fled back through the window and ran down the alley as I took warning shots over his head. He was a thief, a coward.
The liberties we take when writing about ourselves.
Waiting to hear more JC.