"Offhand, I can remember three girls in my life who have struck me as having unclassifiably great beauty at first sight. One was a thin girl in a black bathing suit who was having a lot of trouble putting up an orange umbrella at Jones Beach, circa 1936. The second was a girl aboard a Caribbean cruise ship in 1939, who threw her cigarette lighter at a porpoise. And the third was the Chief's girl Mary Hudson"
JD Salinger, 'The Laughing Man' from For Esme With Love And Squalor. Which you can (should) buy here or if you're in London, here.
So Wednesday's idea is the Other as an object of desire. But really, just an opportunity to share two things: a piece of The Laughing Man, my favourite short story and secondly, the wonderful image of a girl throwing a lighter at a porpoise. Not that I condone animal cruelty- eat dolphin- friendly kids.
No comments:
Post a Comment