SOURCE: "Salinger's 'Franny': Homoerotic Imagery," in American Imago, Vol. 22, Nos. 1-2, Spring-Summer, 1965, pp. 57-76.

In the following essay, Seitzman provides a psychoanalytic reading of "Franny. "

Among current American writers of fiction, no other writer has exerted so deep an influence as J. D. Salinger on college students of the past decade. His novel Catcher in the Rye is possibly the most widely read book among the college set. His writings have also received serious study by critics. His recent Franny and Zooey is particularly rich in psychoanalytic import.

"Franny" is the story of a brief intellectual encounter between two young college students, Lane Coutell and his "date," Franny Glass. Both had been looking forward to the exciting weekend of the big Yale-Princeton game. A studied nonchalance covers Lane's excited anticipation as he waits for the train. He receives a warm kiss from his "date" when she meets him...