Thursday, January 28, 2010

R.I.P. J.D. Salinger


J.D. Salinger, the American author of The Catcher in the Rye who was once described as “the Greta Garbo of literature,” died yesterday of natural causes at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire. He was 91.

The celebrated author chose to spend the last half-century of his life in virtual seclusion, guarding his privacy with such fervor that he only succeeded in fanning the flames of public curiosity. As Paul Alexander put it in his book Salinger: A Biography, “He became famous for wanting not to be famous.” But of course, Salinger’s main claim to fame has always been as the man who wrote The Catcher in the Rye.

Read all about him here

5 comments:

JPX said...

One of my friend's sister has been Salinger's next door neighbor for many years. I always wanted her to sneak into his house and steal manuscripts.

HandsomeStan said...

He definitely falls into that category of "I Thought He Was Already Dead" celebrity deaths.

Anyway, haiku results coming late tonight or early tomorrow. Yay!

Johnny Sweatpants said...

Weird, I finished reading Nine Stories literally yesterday. You don't suppose that had something to do with his death, do you?

Catfreeek said...

It's all your fault JSP!!

Octopunk said...

That's what "natural causes" means in this case. Nice going.

Although his penchant for secrecy makes me wonder if he just faked his own death.

Salem's Lot 1979 and Salem's Lot 2024

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