Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction
| Industry | Publishing |
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| Headquarters | United States |
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction is a single compilation containing two novellas by J. D. Salinger, both initially appearing in The New Yorker: Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters (1955) and Seymour: An Introduction (1959). This collection was first issued in book form by Little, Brown in 1963. According to Publishers Weekly, it ranked as the third best-selling novel in the United States that year.
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters
This narrative, first published in the November 19, 1955 edition of The New Yorker, is told from the viewpoint of Buddy Glass, the second eldest of the Glass siblings. It details Buddy’s 1942 leave from the Army to attend the wedding of his brother Seymour to Muriel, and the complications that arise when Seymour does not show up. These incidents serve as a prelude to Seymour’s suicide in 1948. Seymour’s character is revealed through Buddy’s narration and through accounts from other wedding guests, including the Matron of Honor—a boisterous and robust woman whom Buddy encounters during a car journey from the ceremony location. Other occupants of the vehicle are her spouse Robert, Muriel’s uncle who is deaf and mute, and Helen Silsburn.
The Matron of Honor offers criticism of Seymour while endorsing Muriel’s mother Rhea’s interpretations of his conduct. Buddy’s reactions expose his irritation with their critical viewpoints and underscore his intimate bond with Seymour. At one point, Buddy discovers and clandestinely reads Seymour’s diary—the sole direct glimpse into Seymour’s inner thoughts—later identified as a verbatim letter found in "Hapworth 16, 1924".
The book’s title originates from a note left on the family apartment bathroom mirror by Seymour’s sister Boo Boo, beginning with a line taken from Sappho's fragment LP 111:
Seymour: An Introduction
Published four years after Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, Seymour: An Introduction appeared in The New Yorker in 1959. The story presents Buddy Glass as he introduces his deceased brother Seymour—who died by suicide in 1948—through an introspective stream-of-consciousness style. It delves into themes including Zen Buddhism, haiku poetry, and Vedanta philosophy.
Further reading
Stories about the Glass family encompass Franny and Zooey, Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut, A Perfect Day for Bananafish, and Down at the Dinghy. The last three are compiled within Nine Stories. Another tale involving the Glass family, Hapworth 16, 1924, has yet to be anthologized.