For Esmé with Love and Squalor
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"For Esmé with Love and Squalor" is one of the most well known and most loved stories by J. D. Salinger. It is an Army sergeant's retrospective of a meeting he had with a girl, Esmé, before he was sent into combat. The strange but loving relationship with Esmé helps him to endure the squalor of war. Lack of purity and innocence in the adult world, love of childhood itself, and the power of words and writing are the themes of the story.
There has been speculation that Sergeant X and Buddy Glass are the same person, but it is not widely accepted. It is more widely accepted that Sergeant X and Seymour Glass are the same person. However, since it is mentioned in the story that Sergeant X has an older sibling and Seymour does not, this is unlikely. Another theory proposed is that Sergeant X is a separate character. Also possible is that Walt Glass, an otherwise unimportant member of the Glass family, wrote the letter. This would be logical, because it is known that Walt served in the army until his death in 1945. In addition, he has a number of older siblings. However, Sergeant X served in the European Theater of WWII and not the Pacific Theater.[citation needed]
For Esmé with Love and Squalor is also the title used for Salinger's Nine Stories compilation in most countries. Nine Stories is the American title.
[edit] Pop Culture
- In Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events series, the character Esmé Squalor is one of several literary references.
- The story is mentioned in Daniel Handler's (Lemony Snicket) The Basic Eight.
- Punk-rock band Jawbreaker references the story in their song "For Esmé", which seems to address Sergeant X.
- Indie band American Football refers to the story in the song "Letters and Packages".
- Indie-rock band We Are Scientists named their debut album in 2005 With Love and Squalor.
- With love and squalor is also the title of a song included in Manta Ray´s 1994 homonimous album.
- In February 1977, Esquire published, "For Rupert - with no promises" as an unsigned work of fiction. This was the first time in its 44 year history that Esquire hadn't identified a fiction writer. Readers speculated that it was the work of "J. D. Salinger", the reclusive author best known for "The Catcher in the Rye". As for the story, the signals are quite clear: first-person singular, names of the Glass family in "For Esmé with Love and Squalor", events from the story "For Esmé with Love and Squalor". Gordon Lish is quoted as saying, "I tried to borrow Salinger's voice and the psychological circumstances of his life, as I imagine them to be now. And I tried to use those things to elaborate on certain circumstances and events in his fiction to deepen them and add complexity." The Wall Street Journal 2/25/1977
- Post-hardcore/power pop Atlanta band Esmé named their band after the story "For Esmé with Love and Squalor".
