De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period

The point of view is that of first-person narrator, John Smith, who, as an adult, is reassessing an episode in his life when he was nineteen. He dedicates the story to his late (fictional) stepfather. The events unfold shortly after the death of Smith’s mother in 1939, when he and his stepfather return to Manhattan from Paris, where the family had spent the Great Depression years. As housemates, the “exceptionally unpleasant” Smith and his “live-and-let-live” widower stepfather are incompatible developing an Alphonse and Gaston relationship. Seeking escape, Smith applies for, and is accepted, as an instructor at a Montreal, Quebec correspondence art academy, “Les Amis des Vieux Maîtres” operated by Monsieur I. Yoshoto.[5] Smith’s résumé overstates his artistic credentials and further, he falsely claims to be a descendent of Honoré Daumier and a confidant of Pablo Picasso.[6] He adopts the inflated moniker “Jean de Daumier-Smith”. Smith increasingly internalizes his own contrived persona.

J. D. Salinger

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