Dec 31 2008
Serendipity Strikes: J. D. Salinger
When I was ranting about the unwanted responsibilities and expectations that sometimes come with a talent, J. D. Salinger was in the back of my mind. After spectacular success with Catcher in the Rye and a few other books, Salinger disappeared from public view, and as far as anyone knows, stopped writing. As if in answer to my unspoken questions, 3 Quarks Daily posted an excerpt from a New York Times article about Salinger: Still Paging Mr. Salinger .
What the article boils down to is an analysis of Salinger’s various views of one of his characters, and what those views might reveal about the author. Considering that Salinger is now 90 years old, hasn’t published anything since 1965 and hasn’t granted an interview since the 1970s, it’s all guesswork.
The only thing that can be said with certainty is that Salinger’s work is largely concerned with the conflict between appearances and inner reality, between the perceptions and sensitivities of his highly intelligent characters, and their inability to cope with a crass and phony world. How much this is a reflection of Salinger himself is impossible to measure. But his withdrawal from publishing and from the world doesn’t leave much doubt about his unwillingness, or inability, to be assailed by the demands of a public that can’t simply be satisfied with the books themselves, but has to own pieces of the author.
3 Responses to “Serendipity Strikes: J. D. Salinger”
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I also find such speculations mostly a waste of time, but once in a while, it’s apropos of something I’m thinking about. Too much speculation centers on the idea that the characters are reflections of the author. That might be somewhat true of Saligner because he worked with a very narrow spectrum of types. But who knows?