J D Salinger

I was surprised at how bad I felt when I read that Salinger was dead at 91 years of age. I wasn't a huge fan of "Catcher in the Rye" but I'm the first to admit that the man hit a home run with his first book, and I agree that it was a defining work in the "genre" of teenage coming-of-age books.

His life, to me, seemed filled with a longing he couldn't satisfy. His relationships with women were unsuccessful and he always seemed to be trying to find some new and fulfilling religious path to happiness... without ever doing so. More sad than that, though, was that he simply was never left alone by the "pseudo-intellectual" world that thought him some mad genius with a hidden knowledge of secret wisdom that would explain his literary success.

Holden Caulfield is an iconic literary figure... he will live through the ages, no doubt. He is one of those fictional characters that, once you have "met" him, you never really forget him. I always wondered how much of J D was in Holden, and upon reading several biographical articles, it seems even Salinger admitted that the book was very "autobiographical".

Anyway... rest in peace, Mr. Salinger. You stormed Utah Beach, you fought at the Bulge, and you wrote one of the most enduring classics in all of American literature... you've earned your peace at last.