[2]"What I was really hanging around for, I was trying to feel some kind of a good-by. I mean I've left schools and places I didn't even know I was leaving them. I hate that. I don't care if it's a sad good-by or a bad good-by, but when I leave a place I like to know I'm leaving it. If you don't, you feel even worse."
~J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye, Chapter 1
I remember reading The Catcher in the Rye [2] when I was a teenager. I was transfixed by the character of Holden Caulfield. The book is a transformative moment in young adult literature. It's also, other than one short story in the mid-60s, the last thing Salinger published. It is rumored that he has writings that will be published posthumously.
Salinger became a recluse and intensely private. In fact, one of my favorite books, Shoeless Joe [3], by W.P. Kinsella features the reclusive Salinger as a character. In the book, Salinger is "kidnapped" by Ray Kinsella in his quest to build a baseball field in an Iowa cornfield. Sound familiar? Shoeless Joe was the basis for the movie Field of Dreams [4], where they changed the author character to Terence Mann. Like most books made into movies, the book is better (even though I also love the movie).
While best known for his novel of adolescent angst, Salinger did write other books:
Franny and Zooey [5]
Nine Stories [6]
Raise the Roof Beam Carpenters: and Seymour, an Introduction [7]
Obituaries
- Houston Chronicle [8]
- The New York Times [9]
- The Washington Post [10]
For an in depth biography, see Paul Alexander's Salinger, a Biography [11].
