"Go See Eddie" is a work of short fiction by

J. D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger ( ; January 1, 1919 – January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel '' The Catcher in the Rye''. Salinger published several short stories in '' Story'' magazine in 1940, before serving in World Wa ...

published in the University Press of Kansas, University of Kansas ''City Review'' (later renamed ''

New Letters ''New Letters'', the name it has been published under since 1970, is one of the oldest literary magazines in the United States and continues to publish award-winning poems and fiction. The magazine is based in Kansas City, Missouri. History and ...

'' in 1970) in December 1940. The story is included in the 2014 Salinger collection ''

Three Early Stories ''Three Early Stories'' is a posthumous short story collection by American writer J. D. Salinger, published in 2014 by The Devault-Graves Agency. The book includes three stories: "The Young Folks", "Go See Eddie" and "Once a Week Won't Kill You ...

''.

Plot

Helen, an aspiring actor, becomes romantically involved with Phil Stone while visiting Chicago. Phil, a married man, has introduced beautiful Helen to a socially exclusive world of wealth and dissipation. She thrives in this milieu, amusing herself by playing the ''

femme fatale A ( , ; ), sometimes called a maneater, Mata Hari, or vamp, is a stock character of a mysterious, beautiful, and Seduction, seductive woman whose charms ensnare her lovers, often leading them into compromising, deadly traps. She is an archetype ...

''. Helen’s brother Bobby, a booking agent, is appalled that his sister, a good-natured and decent-spirited young woman, has been traduced by this pretentious crowd. Bobby, fearing that Helen’s good character will be distorted, encourages her to contact Eddie Jackson, who is producing a local stage play. Helen agrees to disengage from Phil and his degenerate friends and pursue her acting career.

Background

After his first success seeing his short story

Story Story or stories may refer to: Common uses * Narrative, an account of imaginary or real people and events ** Short story, a piece of prose fiction that typically can be read in one sitting ** News story, an event or topic reported by a news orga ...

'', Salinger made various story submissions to a number of journals which responded with rejection slips. “Go See Eddie” was repeatedly turned down by Whit Burnett at ''Story'', by ''Esquire (magazine), Esquire'', and by a number of other journals. Dejected, Salinger briefly considered becoming a playwright and adapting “The Young Folks” to a stage play in which he would perform the lead character. After a month long sojourn in Canada, he returned to the USA fully re-committed to pursuing a career as a short-story writer. “Go See Eddie” was ultimately accepted for publication by University of ''Kansas City Review'', “an academic magazine with limited circulation,” appearing in its December 1940 edition.

Theme

“Go See Eddie” is one of a number of Salinger’s uncollected stories that deals with “characters who become involved in degrading, often phony social contexts.” An examination of “social manners ndthe corruption of innocence” the story, “though slight in range, foreshadows Salinger’s more searching explorations of innocence either threatened or lost” according to literary critic John Wenke.Wenke, 1991 p. 6-7: “...explores the conflict between nice and phony worlds…discern ngan informing opposition between the sensitive outsider and assertive vulgarian.”

Footnotes

Sources

*Slawenski, Kenneth. 2010. ''J. D. Salinger: A Life''.

Random House Random House is an imprint and publishing group of Penguin Random House. Founded in 1927 by businessmen Bennett Cerf and Donald Klopfer as an imprint of Modern Library, it quickly overtook Modern Library as the parent imprint. Over the foll ...

, New York. *Wenke, John. 1991. ''J. D. Salinger: A Study of the Short Fiction.'' Twaynes Studies in Short Fiction,

Gordon Weaver Gordon A. Weaver (February 2, 1937 – April 2, 2021) was an American novelist and short story writer. Life and career Weaver was born in Moline, Illinois in February 1937, the fifth of the five children of Noble Rodell Weaver and Inez Katherine ...

, General Editor.

Twayne Publishers Gale is a global provider of research and digital learning resources. The company is based in Farmington Hills, Michigan, United States, west of Detroit. It has been a division of Cengage since 2007. The company, formerly known as Gale Research a ...

, New York. {{J. D. Salinger Short stories by J. D. Salinger 2014 short story collections