I've just learned of J.D. Salinger's death, yesterday in the small New England village where he has spent the last fifty years of his reclusive life. He was 91 years old.
The Catcher in the Rye was written in 1951; I read it in 1962 when my boyfriend/literary genius/guy who hung the moon discovered it with such an abundance of astonished glee, it seemed he might have found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow in his front yard. And, that was pretty much the case.
It's pretty hard to discuss the passing of someone who was so renowned for avoiding public scrutiny; and, you can't really analyze someone you've never met. I guess the truth is, all I know about J.D. Salinger is that news of his passing made me cry, and that the characters in his stories were among my closest companions throughout my teenage years.
The Catcher in the Rye was written in 1951; I read it in 1962 when my boyfriend/literary genius/guy who hung the moon discovered it with such an abundance of astonished glee, it seemed he might have found a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow in his front yard. And, that was pretty much the case.We read, devoured, digested and internalized J.D. Salinger and his iconic characters : Holden Caulfield, Phoebe Caulfield, older brother D.B.,Franny and Zooey Glass, Seymour Glass. We naturally were closest to Holden, his eloquence, tenderness, sarcasm, humor and honest analysis of the world and the people around him.
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Sitting here at the computer yesterday morning down here in McCalla, I was saddened to realize that JD Salinger died. "Catcher in the Rye" was a book that my siblings and I spent many hours discussing back in the short sweet summers of my childhood in Indiana, trying to decide which character we all were. My big brother was definitely Holden.
I, too, cried. I hate it when the best of the best writers up and die. No more fresh and brand new words of theirs to devour.
I don't think we'll ever see his like again. R.I.P., JDS.
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