KINGS IN THE BACK ROW
INTRODUCTORY NOTE (Dec 31, 2004):
The noted literary critic Herman C. Applebaum, author of the highly-acclaimed
book Kings and Things in the Back Row, recently tried to
reconstruct the famous scene from CR (chapter 11) in which Holden
remembers playing checkers with Jane Gallagher, who for some reason kept
all her kings in the back row. According to Applebaum, "the symbolic
significance is, in fact, somewhat overwhelming".
Internal evidence suggests that the red square onto which Jane's tear
"plopped", as Holden recalls, may have been the one in the upper
right corner.
Note also the whisky glass in the background, which was possibly used by
the "booze hound".
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