I was going to save this one for the links, but I actually want to talk about J.D. Salinger. Salinger died yesterday in his home in New Hampshire. He was 91 years old, and he was arguably one of the most famous American writers ever to have lived. In his lifetime, he only published four books, amongst them Catcher in the Rye, considered one of the seminal pieces of literature of the 20th century.
Decades ago, J.D. Salinger left life in Manhattan for a simpler life, away from the endless hustle and bustle of life in the fast lane. It’s said that every major producer of the ’50s, 60s and 70s wanted to make Catcher into a film, but Salinger would never sign away the film rights. It’s become something of legend, that Salinger left New York for the country because he didn’t like the culture of celebrity, and he wanted to get away from all of that nonsense – and that was so many years ago. One could only imagine what he must of thought of what passes for “celebrity” today. The irony is that the legend of Salinger, the myth of the recluse made Salinger even more famous.
J.D. Salinger, whose iconic novel Catcher in the Rye is considered a cultural high point of the middle 20th century, died Wednesday. He was 91.
The reclusive author died of natural causes at his home in Cornish, N.H., his son said in a statement released by Salinger’s literary representative. The Manhattan-born and raised Salinger had lived for more than 50 years in self-imposed isolation in New England.
Jerome David Salinger earned his lofty reputation with his 1951 novel about iconoclastic teenager Holden Caulfield. The writer also became something of a legend for, among many things, turning down decades’ worth of requests from Hollywood to turn his most famous work into a movie.
Besides Catcher, Salinger also wrote the collection Nine Stories and two compilations, each with two long stories about the fictional Glass family. They were Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction.
[From People Magazine]
It is unknown if Salinger has spent his time in the country writing, or if we will ever see any of his later writings released posthumously. I hope so.
I must have read Franny and Zooey literally about a thousand times during my teenage years, but I haven’t picked it up in so long. I think that’s my weekend plan.
Rest in peace, J.D. Salinger.
Images and photos from Google Images.
So sad, but he did have a long life. He brought us such great literary joy. I feel for his family right now.
Rest in peace J.D!
I’m also hoping his children publish some of his work. I’ve read everything he’s ever written. He was a true genius. RIP, J.D.
I hope the rights to Catcher in the Rye NEVER get signed off/sold.
RIP J.D
I think, Julie, that it’s inevitable. I honestly think Shia LaBoeuf (sp?) would be a great choice to play Holden (At least, he would have been perfect a year or two ago…I know he’s been trying to “grow up” in his roles/look). He has/had the requisite youthful awkwardness, quirkiness, and cuteness (not to mention the streak of crazy) that Holden would require…Plus, he’s a pretty good actor.
I recently read Franny and Zooey and loved it.. I always wondered if it influenced Wes Andersen for the Royal Tenenbaums..
“I hope the rights to Catcher in the Rye NEVER get signed off/sold.”
gotta agree with you. 20 years ago, it may have been a great movie, but made in TODAY’s hollyweird world?
they’d probably cast one of the Jonas Brothers as Holden. UGH.
J.D. and Zinn in one day.. sad.
boy I hate the rule of threes. Not looking forward to who might round it out.
Nine Stories changed my life, especially “The Laughing Man” and “A Perfect Day for Bananafish”. Also, of course, “For Esme- with Love and Squalor”. What a beautiful writer. RIP Mr. Salinger.
How sad. But I’m sure he lived a good life away from the scrutiny of the public eye. Sometimes that’s the best way. And way to go living until you’re 91! I loved the Catcher in the Rye. I too hope that it never gets made into a movie if the writer himself never wanted it.
Thank you, Kaiser, for marking the passing of this extraordinary author and man. It’s not everyday that a gossip website takes the time or interest in acknowledging the true legends of literature. My respect for this site just increased ten-fold.
catcher in the rye is one of my fave books…this is so sad.
im making it my goal now to read all of his other work.
@ julie, i completely agree with you i hope hollywood never gets its hands on the rights to CITR.
He was one of my favourite authors ever. Rest in peace.
my dog is named zooey.
mad points for “oh, i love that book!”
mad face for “oh, like zooey deschanel?”
If Joyce Maynard is mentioned in his will, I’ll PUKE!
Never liked Catcher in the rye and I don’t still understand why this novel is considered such a masterpiece in american literature.
I’m probably swimming against the tide here for different reasons, but I really hope that HW won’t make a movie from CITR if it was Salinger’s will not to sign for the film rights, and now that he is gone people must respect his will even more.
May he rest in peace.
You either love or hate Catcher in the Rye. I absolutely hated it and could not understand why people thought it was so great. Other people absolutely love the book. Nevertheless, the book made JD Salinger famous and pretty much everyone read the book in high school.
Co sign with Amy. I wasn’t forced to read it for a school assignment but picked it up and read it during the summer after my freshman year in high school. I walked away mostly not understanding why people thought it was so awesome. But like Amy said, you either love it or hate.
Anyway, RIP JD Salinger.
I think positive people dislike CiR, since it’s all about the futility of life. It’s for people who ask, what’s the point? As in–“what’s the point of beauty, sex, money, success, or anything really? Most people are fakes doing fake things, because it’s what they’ve been told to do. Nothing really matters.” If you find that pov dead-on, then you like the book. If not, not.
Oh, and RIP Salinger. You will be missed.
@Mistral – “I honestly think Shia LaBoeuf (sp?) would be a great choice to play Holden”
Oh my god, tell me you are kidding.
whatever, I’m far from being a positive person, someone can easily call me “cynical” because I think that human actions have no point at all (and I usually make fun of it). And although I agree with some of Holden’s points of view I can’t still get the fascination with this novel. I read it twice because I thought that probably I was missing something, but after that I was still asking myself where the hype came from.
I genuinely think that this novel is, you know, “weak” and that it can’t be compared to e.g. Roth, Fitzgerald, Capote or even Kerouac’s novels.
@Audrey, I have read that the Glass Family was indeed the inspiration for the Royal Tenenbaums.
I neither loved, nor hated Catcher In The Rye … it made me LAUGH! And I’m a very serious person! … I laughed, and laughed, and laughed!
(perhaps *I* belong in an asylum too…)
JohnnieR – amen!
@Solveig – yeah I’ve had some of these feelings too. But I think it is a good book though, just maybe over hyped.
I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around – nobody big, I mean – except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff – I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That’s all I do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it’s crazy, but that’s the only thing I’d really like to be
he was a wonderful writer, R.I.P.
I think that Rye’s greatness lied in its ability to capture the zeitgeist at the cosmically right time. The mid 20th century was arguably the most crucial paradigm shift in the Western world in “modern” times, one in which people were voicing their disenchantment with failed political, social, economic, and artistic systems. He was also able to capture it with amazing subjectivity, which (along with Kerouac and the Beat niks) helped issue in the reemergence of the Byronic hero (angst-ridden, cynical, depressed, intellectually superior outcast) and redefine it in a modernist context. You know….the Rebel Without a Clue. The social significance cannot be understated. It is in part because of this that we had in the 60s the Flower Power generation, the punk movement of the 70s. Salinger, Kerouac, and others essentially gave a social voice and resurrected romanticism to these diseffected countercultures: it was okay to not fit in, it was okay to entertain values antithetical to those with which you had been reared, it was okay TO BE DIFFERENT…at least in the West. Also important was the existential outlook of Holden as someone mentioned in an earlier post. With so many social instiutions disintergrating, this painful subjectivity fed into an increaingly somber and faithless outlook which was reflective of the social and political climate at the time. Anyway, I probably could have explained this better, but it’s not English Lit so I’ll leave it at that. Good post, Kaiser.
Viktory, what a terrific, concise analysis.
I was obsessed with Salinger after reading CITR, which I loved.
Disagree a bit with Whatever—as a teenager I identified with the romantic attitude of life’s ultimate hopelessness. But, later my outlook evolved and is more positive.
But I will always love Salinger’s works.
He was true to himself to the end.
RIP JD.
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bunch_of_phonies_mourn_j_d
I have never understood the hype about this guy and “Catcher in the Rye”. I read that book and absolutely HATED it, but at least I finished reading it. I tried to read “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters” and “Franny and Zooey” and they were so horrible that I couldn’t even finish them, and I usually can finish even the most boring books. I thought I should try and read his stuff since he’s always lauded as this wonderful writer and his books are always talked about as such classics, but I just couldn’t get into any of them. I thought I was the only one, but my mother hates his work too. I think she actually threw his books out (which is something I have never seen her do, EVER), because she hated them so much! We just don’t get the hype AT ALL, but I am sorry to hear of his passing and my sympathies to his family. But I say, if you want to praise an author of TRUE classics, praise Steinbeck. My God, now THAT man was a truly talented author!
whatever-
I’m the most cynical person on Earth and I hate everyone and don’t see the point in like, 99% of things, but I still hated that book!
i carried a copy of franny and zooey around with me for years. it was the book that i felt somehow defined me in my high school and college years. salinger will always be one of my favorite authors. a little piece of me died today.