Sunday, January 10, 2021

For Esmé with Love and Squalor By Jerome David Salinger

The title of the story "For Esmé with Love and Squalor" written by American writer Jerome David Salinger is difficult to translate. The word squalor means "the state of being extremely dirty and unpleasant". An alternative translation of this word is compassion. Actually, both translations are correct: the first is a direct translation and the second one is closer to the meaning of the story.

According to the plot, an American soldier is writing a letter to a teenage girl in England, with who he had a conversation in 1944 (before D-Day). Taking into account the biography of Salinger who participated in the Second World War, we can conclude that the story is about himself.

In the story, the author uses interesting literary methods. The narrator begins to tell the story in the first person in a relaxing and humanistic style. Whereas, the second part is completely different due to increasing tension. The ending discloses the main idea of the story.  

The publication of this story in 1950 resulted in wider recognition for the young author Salinger.  Since that time readers and critics started calling Jerome David Salinger a live classic of American literature. 


Here is the link to the text of the story:

http://www.ae-lib.org.ua/salinger/Texts/N6-ForEsme-en.htm


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