photo/ Lotte Jacobix
JEROME DAVID SALINGER/ January 1, 1919- January 27, 2010
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J.D SALINGER, the author of "The Catcher In The Rye", has died at the age of 91. Many will remember him, many tributes will be made to this most reclusive of writers, whose reputation rests with a slight body of work with a huge influence: " The Catcher In The Rye", "Nine Stories", the stories about the Glass family: "Franny and Zooey", and "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters", among others.
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For a big portion of my younger life, I had myself confused with J.D. Salinger. I certainly didn't see him when I looked in the mirror, I being a reasonably comely young woman. And he being a He, and already on his way to being a world class recluse. But first he became the idol and role model for every aspiring wiseguy writer to surface from their complete submersion in his prose. Whenever I put pen to paper...we did in those days, yellow pads, blue Bics, I had to make the decision who I would be that day: Holden Caulfield, or Franny or Zooey. I blushed at how much the Glasses fit in my family's clothes.
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I can say that I've never fully recovered from the spell that J.D. Salinger cast over me. A wry and slightly cynical voice was stirred when Salinger's prose appeared. Still breaking away.
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Some say that Salinger fulfilled Holden's desire to build himself, "a little cabin somewhere with the dough I made and live there for the rest of my life..."
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Rest in peace.
