Posted on 01/28/2010 10:38:44 AM PST by Justaham
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 literary representative. He had lived for decades in self-imposed isolation in the small, remote house in Cornish, N.H.
"The Catcher in the Rye," with its immortal teenage protagonist, the twisted, rebellious Holden Caulfield, came out in 1951, a time of anxious, Cold War conformity and the dawn of modern adolescence. The Book-of-the-Month Club, which made "Catcher" a featured selection, advised that for "anyone who has ever brought up a son" the novel will be "a source of wonder and delight — and concern."
(Excerpt) Read more at today.msnbc.msn.com ...
If anyone hasn’t read his ‘Nine Stories’ or ‘Fanny and Zoey’ please do. They are great and quite conservative in outlook.
“Franny”
“Robert Ackley - Holden’s unpleasant dormmate, whose personal habits are dirty and whose room stinks. Holden suspects that Ackley does not brush his teeth and describes them as mossy. Cursed with acne, Ackley constantly picks at the sores. Ackley dislikes Stadlater, calling him a “son of a b****.” Holden finds Ackley disgusting but appears to feel sorry for him at the same time.”
I think he was my college roommate in the late 60s...long live Ackley...lol
Excellent!! Highly recommend as well. Rest in peace J.D.!!
RIP Mr. Salinger...RIP.
I was thinking about Salinger just the other day. Too bad he hid so much talent under a bushel.
Almost ashamed to say I never read it. My early reading was mostly comic books, like Archie, Superman, Fantastic Four and when my parents sent me to bed out came MAD magazine from below my bed. My love of reading did not begin until my teens.
Franny and Zooey.
I named one of my now deceased kitties Zooey, named after that character.
RIP
Since it was due to natural causes, I’m guessing this was not a perfect day for bananafish.
>Almost ashamed
Well, don’t.
Contrary to popular opinion, nothwithstanding its long term spot on the American curricula, and the enthusiasm for it among the educators, is in my not so humble opionion highly, highly overrated.
Found it tedious, pedantic, and simply put, boring when it was assigned to me to read.
A completely self absorbed, navel watching self conscious book that predated the self obsessed movement that came later.
Instead, schoolchildren should read something like CS Forester’s The Gun.
Or at least something with such a depressing and boring protagonist.
Or at least something with such a depressing and boring protagonist
Or at least something with NOT such a depressing and boring protagonist
Boy, did you the nail on the head.
I remember having a visceral disgust for the book while I was reading it, but being young and stupid I soldiered on thinking it would make me somehow "smart".
Don’t be ashamed, I started with all those comic books..and I still have alot of them. Still love them. It was just the book that started me on my love of reading, I’m sure if you think about it, you’ll remember that book that first hooked you.
Read it, kept my mouth shut, and was surprised at the accolades in class discussion, one got the feeling that badmouthing it would PO the teacher.
Yeah, let’s give 13-16 year olds a book about a depressed and potentially suicidal teenager.
There are so many books that would entice and encourage a love of reading, this isn’t one :>> IMO, of course, your mileage may vary.
But then again, I do believe that reading lists are so ponderous it’s a wonder any of us came out with any love for reading.
There are some superlative books for young readers by an author unknown in America, an Englishwoman named Enid Blyton.
But, discovering HP Lovecraft (not assigned) in High School was just incredible.
The book that got me, after Blyton’s, was Alistair MacLean’s HMS Ulysses. Read it when I was too young for it......
Your distaste for the book is interesting. Don’t know at what state of rebellion against the prevailing wisdom you were in when you read it, but when I read the book, I was a boiling cauldron of youthful rebellion.
The book very much spoke to me.
Don’t most boys read the Hornblower stuff way earlier than they would read Catcher?
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