Posted on 01/30/2010 4:27:57 AM PST by JoeProBono
J.D. Salinger, who died on Wednesday of natural causes, repeatedly brushed off entreaties to bring "The Catcher in the Rye" to the big screen from producers ranging from Billy Wilder to Steven Spielberg, according to EW.com.
But a 1957 letter suggests Salinger was somewhat open to a posthumous adaptation of his classic.
"Firstly, it is possible that one day the rights will be sold. Since there's an ever-looming possibility that I won't die rich, I toy very seriously with the idea of leaving the unsold rights to my wife and daughter as a kind of insurance policy. It pleasures me no end, though, I might quickly add, to know that I won't have to see the results of the transaction," he wrote, according to EW.com.
Whether Salinger was of the same mind more than 50 years later - having been long-divorced from his wife, Claire, and having become the subject of a memoir by his daughter, Margaret, that portrayed him a disturbed man - is not known.
Salinger saw the 1951 "Catcher" as a "very novelistic novel," not easily translated to other media. Too, he had been particularly upset by Samuel Goldwyn's adaptation of his short story, "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut," into a mawkish and failed 1949 movie, "My Foolish Heart," according to EW.com.
Still, the interest from Hollywood never went away. Even Harvey Weinstein made his bid. It was rejected, of course.
(Excerpt) Read more at nydailynews.com ...
Well, I do remember reading it in high school, but it did not leave any mark on me.
I read the book and hated it — no theme, nothing, it just felt afterwards that I wasted time reading the book.
Classic? I didn’t finish it either. Did I miss anything?
Where was Obama’s Catcher in the Rye when he needed him and where is Uncle Sam’s Catcher in the Rye now that we need him?
Great book, should be read by everyone interested in quality American literature, and I hope it never gets made into an awful movie, which is the only kind which could be made from this.
The woods are lovely, dark, and deep
But I have promises to keep
And miles to go before I sleep
And miles to go before I sleep...How long till Robert Frost gets a film?
Frost says only phony people read A Catcher in the Rye.
“The phony people must die said the Catcher In The Rye...”
“People never notice anything” — J.D. Salinger (The Catcher in the Rye)
“I read the book and hated it — no theme, nothing, it just felt afterwards that I wasted time reading the book.”
Well, I do not remember anything special about the book.
Reading it was just pop culture of the day.
I remember hearing for years what a controversial book it was and how every serial killer had multiple copies. I remember hearing about it being banned numerous places.
So about 10 years ago I read it. I’m still trying to figure out why all the fuss. It was a swell book and everything but I sure couldn’t figure out what the big deal was.
“Cold as a witches teat”
I got more out of reading Azimov during that phase.
Wasn’t the character a lifeguard ? That’s all I seem to recall about the book.
It could be worse. Oliver Stone might get to direct the movie.
Too bad, because the perfect guy to play Holden, River Phoenix, is pushing up daisies, and would be too old by now anyway.
Little known Salinger quote:
“I am a paranoiac in reverse-—I believe people are plotting to make me happy.”
Charlie Manson and his pals unwittingly brought The Beatles’ “White Album” into a strange new cultural perspective where it was already popular just for the fact that it was a Beatles album but then it gained a certain notoriety through the Manson family trials, Bugliosi’s book “Helter Skelter”, made-for-TV movies and documentaries.
The Catcher in the Rye is notorious for much the same reason as the White Album but it was not really one of those instant hits in ‘57 like the White album was in ‘68...
It took the murder of John Lennon for The Catcher in the Rye to get people’s attention again 23-24 years later with probably more new readers around the world than there were in the time leading up to Lennon’s death.
Bottom line- The White Album is more deserving of it’s cultural status than is The Catcher in the Rye and it’s author, J.D. Salinger (RIP).
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