American Literature and J. D. Salinger: First Publication of “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes,” Exploring Infidelity, Deception, and Marital Betrayal, 1951

J D. Salinger Literature

Periodical

Salinger, J. D. “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes” (1951), first published in The New Yorker on July 14, 1951, explores marital infidelity, deception, and the dishonesty of intimate relationships through a late-night telephone conversation between two men. Published the same year as The Catcher in the Rye, the story follows Arthur, who telephones his friend Lee in distress over the unexplained absence of his wife, Joanie. A young woman lies beside Lee throughout the conversation, and although her identity is never explicitly confirmed, the narrative strongly suggests that she is Arthur's missing wife. The discrepancy between what the characters say and what the reader understands recalls Salinger's recurring preoccupation with personal hypocrisy, particularly the behavior Holden Caulfield condemns as “phony” in The Catcher in the Rye. The story was subsequently included in Nine Stories (1953), establishing its place among Salinger's collected fiction.
Salinger, J. D. “Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes.” The New Yorker. New York: The New Yorker, July 14, 1951. First edition, first appearance in print. Complete original magazine in printed wrappers. The story unfolds principally through Arthur's telephone conversations with Lee, who attempts to reassure his distraught friend while concealing the presence of the woman beside him. The woman listens to their exchange without revealing her possible involvement, while Arthur's final telephone call introduces another deception: he announces that Joanie has returned home, contradicting the circumstances presented to the reader. Each character participates in some form of concealment, with Arthur's apparent fabrication of his wife's return suggesting that his own concern with appearances may be as pronounced as Lee's dishonesty. English professor Dr. Brett Weaver has proposed a biographical interpretation connecting Joanie to Oona O'Neill, Salinger's former romantic interest who married Charlie Chaplin in 1943. Weaver argues that the story may constitute Salinger's fictional response to the end of that relationship, although the identification of Joanie with O'Neill remains interpretive rather than established fact.
The story's first appearance in The New Yorker preceded its collection in Nine Stories, published by Little, Brown and Company in Boston in 1953. The unresolved identity of Lee's companion and Arthur's contradictory telephone calls distinguish the story's treatment of dishonesty from the more explicit criticism of social hypocrisy in The Catcher in the Rye. The suggested connection to Oona O'Neill adds a biographical interpretation, although the story itself does not establish that identification. Light rubbing and creasing to the original magazine covers; otherwise very good condition. Complete July 14, 1951, issue containing the first printing of a Salinger short story subsequently included in Nine Stories.

Item #17049

Price: $380.00