JD SALINGER DIES AT AGE 91!

JD, 'JERRY' SALINGER, author of the 'famous & infamous' novel, CATCHER IN THE RYE, passed away at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire where he has lived in near isolation since the early 1950's, the time when I was living in Cornish and then went to high school at Stevens High School in Claremont,NH, after moving somewhat from Cornish with my grandparents to Pine Grove Street. Over the years, many 'sightings' of Salinger took place with the frequency of UFO sightings once prevalent and several books on and about Salinger appeared, sometimes just critically assessing his writings and publications or his life in general. After 'granting' an interview with a high school girl at Windsor High School in nearby Windsor,Vermont, JD did not grant any more interviews apparently, probably because of the 'publicity' he received nationally as a result. LIFE MAGAZINE , if I am not mistaken, issued a few issues with articles,etc. on him. Some people do not realize that the major character of 'CATCHER' appeared as a character in a short story before the publication of his major work and probably only a few die-hard devotees have read all of collected works or noticed that Salinger was interested in Zen and related topics and perhaps adopted/adapted some of the Zen practices, as he interpreted them, into his actual life. That he spent time over the years writing, according to several seemingly credible sources, but never published anything, seems to bear out this 'Zenist' approach,similar, in my estimation, to the many monks, calligraphers,etc. that have undergone this sort of 'discipline'. In some respects, his later life, literary or otherwise, if it can be called such, is like a 'tea ceremony',but I shall leave that speculation to others to carry further if they wish. As far as I know I never met or saw Salinger but one friend of mine, now deceased, a Cornish resident for much of his life, and also a high school classmate and member of my 'special' group,and also interested enough to get me to accompany him and another friend, to some Gurdjieff meeting/activity in Lempster, New Hampshire,back in the 80's. My friend, Bob H., used to see him on the streets of Windsor where he worked at the time for the Postal Service. My friend said he used to say hello to Salinger,etc. and sometimes saw him in Cornish. When a student in college I took a course in ADOLESCENT PSYCHOLOGY and for one of the projects to be done, a written report, I did mine on THE CATCHER without actually having read the book which everyone at the time was raving about. I had the attitude which I still have somewhat today, sort of a snobbish affair, not to read 'bestsellers' and 'hot- off- the- presses' books,etc. and the same for viewing movies,etc. these days. I later read CATCHER some years later and also devoured the other things by Salinger I could find. For my report, based mainly on the jacket descriptions, and a quick shuffle through the pages of the book, I received an A + which tells you somewhat the state of academia and myself at the time. I still have the other paper. In 1962, while teaching in a small,private boys' school in Connecticut, I had a student(and so did other teachers so- to- speak, who came from Westport, Connecticut, the place listed as the residance of JD Salinger on the jacket covers of his hard backs(along with the same generic photo,etc. and who claimed to personally know JD Salinger to the extent he conned or convinced even the psychiatrists and school director into thinking this 'delusion' to be true,and then it happened: LIFE put out another issue or some magazine did, telling of Salinger being a recluse in Cornish and this student knew I had lived in Cornish, NH(I took another student from the school there to stay at my Aunt's cabin on the old Farm property there one time in 1962-63) and wondeered why I had not made the acquaintance of JD Salinger. He seemed slightly 'overwhelmed' and in 'awe' at this: that I could ignore JS Salinger. I then read some of the critical books on Salinger at that time. Saligner apparently was a sort of 'entertainer' pn a cruise line, spent time in Europe and also in the Army, and had a movie made from one of his works. Salinger will always have a certain appeal to many, as he was a fascinating,illusive,perhaps shy, person, who had the reputation of wanting 'privacy' almost a masculine counterpart of Greta Garbo. That he worked hard on 'the myth of JD Salinger' and let the popular imaginations of the public go to work and polish, seems somewaht obvious, but I should point out that Salinger is not the first or only person to seek 'solace and quiet' in the hills of Cornish. There have been a few others, many with talent and sensitivity and the like that will always characterize the creator of Hold Caulfield, a sort of forerunner of the BEAT GENERATION.