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ἴψοι δὴ τὸ μέλαθρον ἀέρρετε τέκτονες ἄνδρες
So. J.D. Salinger. He was not one of my early imprints; he was not a favorite of mine in college; he was a piece of the landscape and I'm sorry he's gone, although anyone has an excuse at ninety-one. The timing was appropriate, in a hindsight-only way—a panel Eric moderated at Arisia left me wanting to re-read the Glass family stories, which were my introduction to Salinger rather than The Catcher in the Rye, although like everyone else in this country I read the novel in ninth or tenth grade. (He was not my first encounter with profanity in fiction, either. That was Ursula K. Le Guin.) I liked the titles he gave his stories, like paintings. The Onion had the best last word, so what I've got is songs.
Belle & Sebastian, "Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie"
Wouldn't you like to get away?
Give yourself up to the allure of Catcher in the Rye?
PJ Harvey, "Angelene"
Rose is my color and white
Pretty mouth and green my eyes
PJ Harvey, "A Perfect Day, Elise"
He got burned by the sun
His face so pale and his hands so worn
Amanda Palmer, "1.1.94"
There is still time—we could still try
It's very difficult when no one's there to catch you in the rye
Belle & Sebastian, "Le Pastie de la Bourgeoisie"
Wouldn't you like to get away?
Give yourself up to the allure of Catcher in the Rye?
PJ Harvey, "Angelene"
Rose is my color and white
Pretty mouth and green my eyes
PJ Harvey, "A Perfect Day, Elise"
He got burned by the sun
His face so pale and his hands so worn
Amanda Palmer, "1.1.94"
There is still time—we could still try
It's very difficult when no one's there to catch you in the rye
Don't be scared of the books you read...
Salinger was one of those guys; he is in a whole lot of people since him who write, if just a little. I got him through other places (I didn't read the book in question until rather shockingly late in life. I dodged it in high school, somehow) but I got him, anyway. I'm kind of upset to note
no subject
This is one of two songs I know by them. The other is "Like Dylan in the Movies." I take it you recommend the rest.
I'm kind of upset to note nihilistic_kid's observation that a lot of SF writers have been kind of beastly to him. That's unfortunate.
I hadn't realized that was the case. Is he seen somehow as the exemplar of mainstream literature? I would have thought removing himself from said mainstream, nay, the entire concept of publishing, for the last forty years would have given him some kind of outsider cachet.
no subject
As for the SF response to Salinger, I have a couple of really half-baked hypotheses. One of them relates to what you were saying about him being a mainstream exemplar (despite, yeah, 40 years of not being in the mainstream) and it relates to the bad inferiority complex a lot of SF authors seem to have. The other is that SF, in general, and this one is less formed than the first, likes heroes, and Holden Caulfield ain't.
no subject
I actually think those are pretty reasonable hypotheses, for whatever it's worth. Especially the first one.