The Guardian has an obit. Catcher in the Rye is one of those books you’re supposed to read as a teenager – like Dorian Gray – and didn’t get around to it until too late so it never meant much to me. I liked some of the Glass family stories though – Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roof-Beam Carpenters are the best. Then came Hapworth and Seymour: An Introduction, when Salinger disappeared up his own asshole. So I’m not too excited about the rumours of a library of unpublished manuscripts.
It’ll be interesting to see what happens with his estate and life-long ban against adaptations. I’m also guessing we’ll get a flurry of gossipy memoirs and unpublished letters about Salinger’s complicated love life. Excellent.
Was lucky to be introduced to both Catcher in the Rye and Six Degrees of Separation by one of my high school English teachers – still both up there among my all-time favourites!
Comment by Fatal Paradox — January 29, 2010 @ 9:10 am