J.D. Salinger 1919-2010
NEW YORK - J.D. Salinger, the legendary author, youth hero and fugitive from fame whose "The Catcher in the Rye" shocked and inspired a world he increasingly shunned, has died. He was 91.
Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author's son said in a statement from Salinger's longtime literary representative, Harold Ober Agency. He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, N.H.
Okay, so I wasn't exactly a CHILD. I was 13 the first time I read "Catcher in Rye." The last time I read it was last summer. I've probably read it 100 times in between.
Not only was Holden Caulfield the first "man" I ever loved, there were a good 5-6 teen years in my life was I was convinced that Holden Caulfield and J.D. Salinger were the only two people on the planet who understood anything about me. It wasn't until I got to college that I realized that 90% of the teenage population also felt that way. As I got older, my infatuation with Holden didn't last, but reverence in which I held JD Salinger did. He was the first writer to make me understand how deeply the power of a good story could touch a reader.
Of course, after "Catcher," there was also "Nine Stories," "Franny & Zoey," a series of New Yorker articles, and a few other items written by JD Salinger and set forth for public consumption, but nothing ever came close to the success he had with Catcher. Indeed, I've always believed JD Salinger and Harper Lee were part of a very exclusive club: one that knows what it's like to write The Great American Novel at a very young age. After all, how do you follow up "Catcher in the Rye?"
What's lesser known amongst casual readers is what a huge baseball fan JD Salinger was (if memory serves, I think he was a Red Sox fan). He idolized New York writer Ring Lardner. If you've ever read the book "Shoeless Joe," (the book the movie "Field of Dreams" was based on), you know that, in the book, it's not Terrence Mann that Ray kidnaps and takes with him on his quest to build his baseball diamond and reconnect with his father, it's J.D. Salinger. And the book "The Boat Rocker" is really "Catcher in the Rye."
RIP J.D. Salinger.
21 Comments
gravedigger said:
and nobody had him in my deadpool...
JulieDiCaro said:
he totally flew under the radar.
gravedigger said:
I'm wrong, someone did indeed pick Salinger!
AndCounting said:
Nice post, Julie. My embarrassing confession is that I've never read Catcher because I was afraid of connecting with it. I know that's completely ridiculous, but I've neglected reading it all my life for that neurotic reason.
gravedigger said:
I never read it, and then went on a binge of reading old classics I skipped in high school. When I read that Catch was about "teenage angst" I skipped it again. I'll give it a shot, though, if someone can please tell me its not angsty.
JulieDiCaro said:
It's all about angst. I'm not sure if you'll have the same reaction to reading it as an adult. But Mark, you've got a LOT of Holden Caulfield in you, still!
Adam, like I said, you probably won't have the same reaction to reading it as an adult. I think part of the reason it's so emotional is because many of us read it at the exact right time in our lives, when we felt exactly as Holden does.
berselius said:
I never read it either, but my wife did when she was in high school and hated it for its angstyness.
Max Power said:
Angst is in there plenty. Holden Caulfield was the kid you completely understood -- the self-hating "phoney" -- and with whom you occasionally, although a bit regrettably, identified. That said, you also wanted to punch him in the goddam (the spelling Salinger used) mouth most of the time. I still know lots of those people, and they probably think the same about me.
Read/watch "Six Degrees of Separation" (even the movie works) for possibly the most pretentious discussion of that book -- and that is saying something.
FrankS said:
I remember reading it and not liking it very much. My latest adventure in reading was "Bridge to Terabithia" because my son is reading it for Literature in the sixth grade. I liked that book better than "Catcher."
flyball said:
I never read it in high school, but in college I too went through a catching up on the classics phase, so I read it at the constant harassment of friends. I liked it, but not in a connect with Holden way, so I would definitely recommend it
I do have a college friend who re-read the book a few dozen times by 20, and never finished it, she would read up until the last 10 pages or so and stop, she felt if she finished it would be like ending a friendship, I wonder if she'll finish it now
baturkey said:
My favorite Salinger short story is definitely "For Esme -- with Love and Squalor."
AndCounting said:
That was good, actually read that one.
JB said:
it's A Perfect Day for Bananafish
JulieDiCaro said:
That's a great one. Loved it.
JulieDiCaro said:
Jim Edmonds signs with the Brewers.
MillsChC said:
Never read it & the only reference I've ever had of it is that crappy Mel Gibson/Julia Roberts movie.
gravedigger said:
Here's all we need for today's headlines:
Last night gravedigger went to the Of Montreal show in DC. It was awesome.
gravedigger said:
This wasn't totally serious, we want headlines Julie.
Umbra said:
With Howard Zinn dying too, bleeding heart pinko commies will have fewer high falutin "books" to read and write about in their iJournals.
JulieDiCaro said:
It's true. Once we lose Noam Chomsky, we'll have nothing at all to say.
cubby23(eric) said:
I remember how much fun it was the first time I read Catcher in the Rye. When a younger brother of mime got to his teen years I suggested he pick it up. To my disappointment he didn't find it as noteworthy a read as I did when I was his age.
I guess Salinger finally will get the peace and quiet he seemed so desperate to hang on to the past several decades.
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