J(ust) D(ied) Salinger

America may not be a nation of big readers, but everybody's read The Catcher In The Rye. J.D. Salinger, who died on Wednesday, stopped publishing over 40 years ago, but is still one of our best known authors based on this one book.

He led a weird life, and seemed to be a sort of crank, but I'm not interested in getting into all that David Copperfield kind of crap. Regardless of his personal life, his work will either live or it won't.

I think it will. The Catcher In The Rye is set in a specific time and place that may seem hard for modern audiences to relate to, but it sures captures what being a confused, alienated teenager is like, and in a fairly witty yet accessible way. Everyone (not just troubled assassins) can appreciate the book.

One of the ironies is the book means so much to young readers, yet has been regularly banned from libraries and high schools. One objection is the profanity, but that misses the point. Holden wants to be a catcher in the rye, protecting children from losing their innocence. When he sees dirty graffiti, he wants to protect kids from it, not realizing they're the ones who are writing it.

Then there are Salinger's short stories, especially his best stuff with the Glass family. It makes for a nice counterpoint to Holden Caulfield. However, his last few works that appeared in The New Yorker were much weaker. He stopped publishing due to criticism. I'd rather he redoubled his efforts and improved his writing.

But what he did was enough. Maybe it's time for me to pull out Catcher one more time.

PS Many years ago when I went to summer camp, after lights out one of the counselors would chill us with tales of "The Laughing Man." Only years later did I realize he got the concept from Salinger, though the stories were his own.

PPS With Salinger's death, Thomas Pynchon leaps to the front rank of recluse authors.