Auction 56 - Jewish and Israeli History and Culture

Leah Goldberg - Original Review of J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey, 1961

Opening: $300
Sold for: $375
Including buyer's premium
A review by Leah Goldberg of J.D. Salinger's Franny and Zooey, published in 1961. Hebrew.
Twelve typewritten pages with handwritten notes and corrections, by Goldberg and Ephraim Broide, editor of "Molad". Two of the pages feature full paragraphs in Goldberg's handwriting.
The review is titled BeShivhei HaGveret HaShmena (In Praise of the Fat Lady). Goldberg is referring to a phrase told to both Franny and Zooey by their brother Seymour. When Zooey was a child, Seymour used to tell him to shine his shoes before their live radio broadcast. When Zooey pointed out that nobody sees his shoes on the radio anyway, Seymour told him to do it for the 'Fat Lady,' an imaginary, lonely listener who deserves his best. Goldberg uses the fat lady as her starting point, sharply criticizing Salinger's prose and materials, comparing him unfavorably to her preferred authors - Dostoyevsky, Thomas Mann, Nabokov, Herman Broch and others. The essay underlines the gap between Salinger's world, and the generation and culture it represents, and Goldberg's world.
The final version of the essay appears in a book of Goldberg's collected essays, "Mador UMeever - Bchinot UTeamim BaSifrut Haklalit", Sifriyat Poalim, 1977.
12 leaves, 27.5 cm. Good condition. Stains, creases and folding lines. Pinholes (from the printing process).
Autographs, Manuscripts and Archives, Hebrew and Yiddish Literature
Autographs, Manuscripts and Archives, Hebrew and Yiddish Literature