J. D. Salinger

[woolf]

Well if I knew that he has asked that his books be published after his death, I would have prayed that he dies sooner.
But seriously, I don't know whether this rumour is true or not, but I wish it to be true and his book be published after his death. He created a masterpiece by the name of The Catcher in the Rye which highly affected the generation of its time, and the shadow of that masterpiece was so big that it seems he couldn't get out of it.
On the other hand, by one-book-author, we did not mean that he has written only one book. CITR is the most famous one and the book that everyone knows Salinger by it. Probably the reason that his other books didn't get famous is that he was still using the same theme again and again in those books too. The theme of the person who thinks deeply (and is not shallow, or phony to use the same term that he has used in his book), against a society who is either not caring, or against him.
Salinger in many ways is similar to Pynchon for me, both of them created a work which highly affected the literature and people of their own era (in Pynchon's case it was Gravity Rainbow), and both preferred to stay away from the spotlight and journalists (you can hardly find a photo of Pynchon too). But Pynchon finally overcame the Gravity Rainbow and published four other novels since that book (which was published in 1973), and one of them, Mason and Dixon, again became masterpiece and showed the readers that Pynchon is back again, and necessarily is not rewriting V or Gravity's Rainbow or repeating his previous theme. I would be more than happy to see the same thing happen with Salinger and one day we say that CITR is one of the books of Salinger, not THE book of Salinger.

[Sil3ntEnigma]

Yeah, I agree with you really. And I guess I'm just defensive towards Catcher due to it's impact on me growing up, and it's continual impact on me as I grow older. Where there is a soul that struggles with society, Catcher will live on.

I just love his writing style in general. It's scary how much his characters minds work like mine, and that's why I'm drawn to him and his books (mostly short stories). I can't image what he's written in solitude. I guess I'll just have to wait and see.

[woolf]

Yeah as long as such a society exists, this book would still keeps its magical allure. I have not lived in USA, but honestly that is the way most Iranian intellectuals think about the society around them, and it is still highly popular in Iran. This frustration toward the society is beatifully shown in Censoring an Iranian Love Story by Shahriar Mandandipour.

[GrandpaJoe]

Okay, time to weigh in on this. Hearing of Salinger's death struck a chord in me too, and, oddly enough it has to do with Christian fundamentalism in a way reminiscent of Mehdy's experiences with Islamic fundamentalism.

I went to a very conservative fundamentalist university. I often felt out of place as my theology was evolving even back then. We had an English literature professor who seemed to know what was inside me. During my sophomore year she handed me a copy of The Cather in the Rye. She asked me to read it and tell her whether I thought it would be appropriate for one of her classes. I read the book and identified so much with the protagonist. I loved the days I spent reading it after my regular classes and football practices.

I returned Catcher a few days later and told her how much I loved it. Then I added, "The administration will never let you use it in class, you know. You'd lose your job." She responded, "I know, but I wanted you to read it." I will never forget that.

[woolf]

Oh that professor of yours has been very sharp to do that. It is really a shame that the school principals did not dare to include it in the syllabi.