Thursday, January 28, 2010

Catching Rye in the Sky

J.D. Salinger has left the building. The Catcher in the Rye had a profound effect on me when I read it in high school. I'm sure there are millions of others around the world saying the same thing. It was one of the first pieces of literature I really "clicked" with, and Salinger's use of Holden's voice made me realize on some level that it was okay for me to write, to narrate. Like Holden, I wanted to save my younger sibling from the bad words and the scary rides on the carousel. Like Holden, life got in the way and we all grew up.

According to the article, Salinger has 12 novels locked up in a box in N.H. Wonder if we'll ever get to read them?

In related news, Nicholas Sarkozy and the French are arguing over whether or not to move Albert Camus' grave from Provence to the Pantheon in Paris. Academics want him to stay in his grave in the small town where he was buried, as they say those were his wishes. Sarkozy wants to bring him up to the big leagues and inter him with Victor Hugo et al. Critics are calling foul, saying Sarkozy is using the 50th anniversary of Camus' death (Jan. 2010) to generate political capital.

I didn't realize he died at 46 in a car wreck. Makes me want to reread The Stranger, for some reason.

1 comment:

Applecart T. said...

i would not want to be moved if i were already buried. gross. unfair. one can't control what happens to one after death. salinger's work might be prohibited from view; he may have given his younger lover / partner / ? (she moved in at the age of 18 while he was 53 or so) instructions to destroy them. maybe, though, if it was all about hating fame, he's "ok" with our reading them now, since he can't be bothered by celebrity, and at the same time, his "family," whoever they may be, or some designated charity, will benefit financially.