Abstract

LENCINA, Eva. Cartography of a spiritual journey: the symbology of food in the work of J. D. Salinger. La Palabra [online]. 2015, n.27, pp.109-123. ISSN 0121-8530.

There is a symbolic system in Salinger’s work whose identification is unclear and appears inaccurately to the critic, for it hasn’t been considered in all its manifestations throughout Salinger’s narrative. This system is built on the role played by food in the author’s different works, making a distinction between two groups of symbols: 1. Food as positive spiritual symbol that provides spiritual communion, and 2. Food as negative symbol representing a spirit filled with the values of a material world, for which vomit is often presented as symbol of purgative activity. In this paper we will attempt to make a mapping (or cartography) of the feeding symbolism in the work of J.D. Salinger. From its symbolic manifestations on the textual surface, we will seek to interpret its various signifying functions.

Keywords : J.D. Salinger; American literature; spiritual symbolism; bananafish; feeding.

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