Salinger dies

[germdoc]

Wow--end of an era.

I read his big book, "Catcher in the Rye", at 16 or so, and like all 16 year-olds (boys, anyway) thought it was a manifesto for freedom from conformity and an entry into adulthood. Plus it included swearing, fart jokes, cigarettes and references to prostitution and other forbidden fruit.

I read "Frannie and Zoey", thought it wasn't nearly as good, and never read anything else by him.

I picked up CITR again 15 years ago or so and found it pretty dated. I really can't imagine it has any relevance for today's kids, who are exposed to just about every vice under the sun on TV or on the internet.

His personal life appears to have been a total flakefest, and he seemed to have a creepy proclivity for preying on young women, especially students. His last wife was 40 years his junior.

Maybe now we'll see a flood of unpublished novels--he reportedly has been writing continuously, though hasn't published a thing since 1965...

[cabinetman]

He did have a very fruitful life. Maybe chasing skirts is what let him reach 79, or checked him out too soon.
.

[scmhogg]

He did have a very fruitful life. Maybe chasing skirts is what let him reach 79, or checked him out too soon.
.

Cab,

In the law we say, "a fortiori."

He was actually 91 years old. Catcher. . . was published in 1951, when he was in his early thirties.

Steve

[LCHIEN]

Wow--end of an era.


His personal life appears to have been a total flakefest, and he seemed to have a creepy proclivity for preying on young women, especially students. His last wife was 40 years his junior.

Maybe now we'll see a flood of unpublished novels--he reportedly has been writing continuously, though hasn't published a thing since 1965...

that's what i heard. Recluse. OCD about food. And he claimed if you didn''t publish anything it set you free, his attic is full of unpublished novels.

[germdoc]

On further reflection I think I was a little too negative toward the old guy. Excluding his personal life (which we should do for most writers and musicians and artists anyway), he did have a particular voice which was new and relevant to a lot of people at a particular time. I THOUGHT it was important to me in 1977 or so.

He seems to have had an arrested development. Like Holden, he was sort of a catcher of the rye for 60-plus years, saving young boys from conformity. Unlike his character Seymour, he didn't commit suicide in reality, but he committed a sort of career suicide in 1965, never publishing another thing or communicating publicly at all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/bo...raisal.html?hp

The quotes from CITR go a long way toward explaining his personality:

http://www.quotegarden.com/bk-cr.html

And, he wrote his own obituary 50 years ago:

"Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to h**l when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a g****m cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody."

RIP--no flowers, JD.

[natausch]

Part of me wants to see his heirs "Dickenson" his wishes and sift through his stockpile of unpublished works. If there is a story half as readable as "Catcher" it would be a shame to hide it from the world.

The other part says let it all burn. He gave us one great American Novel and several noteworthy short stories the least we can do is respect his wishes.

[radhak]

If he were not real, him as a fictional character would be so hilarious but yet pathetic : writes a lot, then hides it just to thumb his nose at the world... ?!?

Reminds me of a short story by HGWells (I think) wherein the lead character writes a journal, laughing at the entire world - heh, heh, nobody knows I am mad; they only see how normal I behave in general, going about my life, but I'm really stark raving mad... makes you do a double take

As for the topicality of his books, whenever CITR is mentioned, I recall a hilarious scene from a so-so movie "The Good Girl" (Jennifer Aniston, Jake Gyllenhaal) :

JA: Whatcha readin'?
JG: Catcher in the Rye... I'm named after it (Holden)
JA: What's your name?
[Holden stares at her blankly]
JA: Catcher?

[JR]

I picked up CITR again 15 years ago or so and found it pretty dated. I really can't imagine it has any relevance for today's kids, who are exposed to just about every vice under the sun on TV or on the internet.

FWIW, on NPR yesterday a high school teacher was interviewed who had been teaching CITR for 30+ years. He said that at his school kids were, if anything, somewhat more conformist now than at some other times. CITR was therefore especially revealing to them, in his opinion.

JR