JD Salinger RIP

[tnetennba]

@Rack-a-Bones

Did that book he sued to get banned from publishing in the US ever get published anywhere else? Anyone read it?

It’s called 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye

I thought his law suit was unsuccessful, but can’t find the book on Amazon.com.

[Rack-a-Bones]

@RealityChuck

I never read Catcher in the Rye and I’m probably too old for it now (I probably wouldn’t have sympathized with Holden all that much – he sounds like a real whiner). But “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” is one of the best 20th century literary short story ever written.

Sorry to hear Salinger is gone, but it would be interesting to see what he’s done over the past 30+ years (he supposedly said he was spending the time writing, so there should be something).

Holden*** is*** a real whiner, but I still think the book is worth a read.

Before this thread I’d never even heard of A Perfect Day for Banafish but I’m going to go find it now.

[tnetennba]

My favorite story by him is “The Laughing Man.”

[Rack-a-Bones]

@cricetus

I thought his law suit was unsuccessful, but can’t find the book on Amazon.com.

Judge ruled in his favor: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/02/books/02salinger.html?fta=y

Don’t know if it was appealed or what the status is, but apparently the “sequel” sucks anyway. I like this quote by the author of that article: “I purchased a copy through Amazon UK. I read it; and I can report that no one else should take the trouble.”

I saw it listed on Powell’s and AbeBooks but didn’t see an option to actually buy it at either. You can buy it on Amazon.co.uk though

[woodstockbirdybird]

Sad day. “The Catcher in the Rye” and “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” hit me where I lived at 15.

A friend just told me Salinger was a vehement racist (incredibly anti-semitic, according to her). Anybody know anything about this? I’d never heard anything about his personal beliefs.

[ralph124c]

JD sounds like he was pretty well nuts. When I read “Catcher In The Rye” (Jr. HS), my reaction was :“who writes shit like this and gets paid for it?”.
The story might have been controversial for 1951, but it is pretty dated by now.
I’d like to see a made for TV movie about his later years-maybe he had foot-long fingernails like Howard Hughes? One report said he was fond of drinking pee (his own)!

[Annie-Xmas]

For Esme With Love and Squalor

ETA: He dated Oona O’Neill, daughter of Eugene, before she married Charlie Chaplin.

[phungi]

@The_Second_Stone

I always thought he was a big phony.

“Grand. There’s a word I really hate. It’s a phoney. I could puke every time I hear it”

@RealityChuck

I never read Catcher in the Rye and I’m probably too old for it now (I probably wouldn’t have sympathized with Holden all that much – he sounds like a real whiner). But “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” is one of the best 20th century literary short story ever written.

Sorry to hear Salinger is gone, but it would be interesting to see what he’s done over the past 30+ years (he supposedly said he was spending the time writing, so there should be something).

Anyone who read “Perfect day for Bananafish” but not his other books should check out Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roofbeam, Carpenters & Seymour, and Introduction… both these books are two short stories focusing on members of the Glass family, with the second book heavily focused on Seymour…

[joyfool]

“I hope to hell that when I do die somebody has the sense to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetary. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.”

RIP J.D.

[Mahaloth]

I hope he has a large collection of works that will now be published. Could be fascinating.

[Hazle_Weatherfield]

Boy, when you’re dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you’re dead? Nobody.

Oops! ** Faitihfool** beat me to it. How apropos, though!

[Sir_T-Cups]

My favorite book of all time. Written just for me, about me.

RIP JD

[Chicagojeff]

don’t sleep on Franny and Zooey. i really loved that as well.Wel what wil happen wil be a reassement of Salinger’s work… and more kids will read it which can’t be bad…

BTW I wonder what Matt his son is up too… Matt was goin to be a great actor…but after Revenge of the Nerds i never saw him in much again…

[Tim_R.Mortiss]

@cricetus

No disrespect to him or his family, but we’ll finally know what he did leave behind… will there be a vault of manuscripts? Or even a single one?

So you think he was Holden out on us?

[tnetennba]

@Tim_R.Mortiss

So you think he was Holden out on us?

A truly deplorable pun. Good work!

Of course, I like Rye humor.

[tnetennba]

Was that second pun a little phoebel?

[Cat_Fight]

@Mahaloth

I hope he has a large collection of works that will now be published. Could be fascinating.

Same here. I’m also, god help me, expecting some real dirt to come up. Beyond the stuff we already know, I mean.

[ReticulatingSplines]

I didn’t even realize he was still alive.

[Rilchiam]

@DMark

Aside from casting problems, and which director, etc. you would have the problem of era - would you film it from the perspective of when it was written, or would you try to update it for today?

Are you kidding? It has to be set in 1950 on the nose. Very little, if any, of it could have happened, or happened as it did, in any other era. You said it yourself:

Holden’s story, like J.D.'s story, is frozen in time.

It just has to be set in the era when everybody smoked, when hotels had elevator boys (who were also pimps), when The War was still fresh in everyone’s mind and “crap” was a Dirty Word. Why would you update it?

Cat Fight, that reminds me: What was the deal with Joyce Maynard? My friend spits nails when he hears her name. Apparently she had some tryst with ol’ Jerome, then wrote about it, or at least talked about it, was that what happened?

[tnetennba]

That is exactly what happened. She had a brief relationship with him, and was much younger. She wrote about him later. She now lives in Africa. I really don’t know much about her but apparently one of my friends knows her.