SALINGER: 'The Official book of the Acclaimed Documentary Film DAVID SHIELDS & SHANE SALERNO

I read about this book and the forthcoming movie project on JD SALINGER and of the 'revelations' and information that had not been available about him and his life and works. Having read many of Salinger's works and a few books on his life and work and from my own meager experience as a writer since fifth grade, I never believed the claim that he had stopped writing and that there was nothing more of his to be published. Writers usually stop writing when they are dead and not before unless their works are confiscated and they are imprisoned.

Therefore it is no surprise to me that manuscripts of his exist and this book reveals that fifty years after his death some will be published and not before. However, I wonder if, in today's climate, of internet and e-books, if his work will be read even if published and who will be able to relate to any of it, given the mentality of the masses today?

This present book is interesting and intriguing and also suffers from a few things, some of which is obvious: people saying or talking or writing about things they do now really know anything about, but usually 'hearsay', 'innuendo', 'assumptions', 'armchair psychology', and the 'phoniness' that Salinger so assiduously abhorred and despised.

One glaring mistake is the mistaking the CONNECTICUT RIVER for the DELAWARE RIVER and also the obvious intellectual consideration of CORNISH, NEW HAMSPHIRE, a town in which I also have lived and appreciated, and I can understand why Salinger chose that place and hope to discuss this a bit further than I previously have.

WELL, from this book I learned that SALINGER & HITLER had something in common: THEY BOTH LACKED ONE TESTICLE! Apparently, from what I have read, Hitler may have lacked one testicle or it had never descended and Salinger had only one testicle that descended. Both Salinger and Hitler had somewhat an interest in occultism,witchcraft and mediumship/telepathy etc. They both did a bit of 'body-building' in Hitler's case using cables or stretchers and Charles Atlas courses in Salinger's.

I wonder if in the files of the CHARLES ATLAS company, which still exists, there might be some records or photos even of SALINGER or letters? It would be interesting to uncover his 'diploma' from Charles Atlas. I still have mine and I also have the books on sex that came with the course, which, from reading the book on SALINGER, I assume mention of the 'Atlas Books' refers to these, a small library of paper backs on such topics. I will find mine which are in storage and post them sometime on line for all to see.

The compilers and interviewers of this book, Shields and Salerno have divided up the book, which threatens to become the 'definitive work or bio on Salinger' thus far, into FOUR PARTS BASED ON HINDU CLASSIFICATION OF VEDANTIC LISTINGS.

To discuss this in any meaningful, coherent way requires more time and space that what was devoted to this in the actual book especially in view of the conjecture and value judgments made by the compilers and also the contributors whose understanding of why someone would study or immerse themselves into such 'philosophy', 'religion' etc is a mystery and also conclude it was a disaster for his literary endeavors.

But if the compilers of this book had looked a little deeper into Cornish history and the Dingleton Hill area in  which SALINGER lived, they might have found someone near by who also became involved with a 'mystic' by the name of G. I GURDJIEFF. This man was HERBERT D. CROLY, Founder or one of the Founders of the NEW REPUBLIC MAGAZINE who was, like Salinger, friends with JUDGE LEARNED HAND who lived in Cornish also in the same area.  Many who admired Croly thought that his interest in GURDJIEFF was also a 'distraction' and 'waste of his talents'. CROLY & HIS WIFE are buried in PLAINFIELD, NH which nearby.

As for RAMAKRISHNA & VIVIKENANDA, many people in science, such as EDISON, BURBANK, FORD, TESLA had read their works, among others in that area.


ZEN or ZEN BUDDHISM is an offshoot of  MAHAYANA BUDDHISM that was carried into China from India by various monks and also into TIBET and nearby areas and eventually to JAPAN where the DHYANA BECAME ZEN and CHAN IN CHINA. Basically, these terms are just ways to pronounce in local languages the Sanskrit word DHYANA. Zen also made its way to Mongolia and other areas.

ZEN ENLIGHTENMENT has had much discussion in the West, starting academically in most instances, and affecting people in various ways, from BUSHIDO ADVOCATES to BEATNIKS and eventually to some LSD STIMULATED HIPPIES, among other things.

The abstract, intellectual aspects of ZEN along with its seductive koans and 'harsh' practices have made it a form of meditation that is free from the emotional/devotional aspects of many YOGA SYSTEMS as has VEDANTA and the other six or so schools of HINDU PHILOSOPHY.

To undertand why SALINGER undertook to embrace ZEN & VEDANTA as well as YOGA/TANTRA, one has to delve a bit more than the compilers of this work and their informants and interviewees have done as far as I can tell. Their comments on all this appear to me to be highly superficial and the usual stuff.

NEVERTHELESS, this book has done a great service in that THE INVASION OF NORMANDY ON D-DAY and the BATTLE OF THE BULGE as well as other aspects of the conquest of Germany has been made much clearer than previously, save to those who fought and suffered and survived during WWII.

For one thing, it has made much clearer the life of my father who fought in that D-Day invasion and his behavior over the years from that time as well as that of other relative who fought in both War theaters, Pacific and European.

The book also shows photos that have never been shown before and where SALINGER went and what he experienced. Moreover, he was in the CIC, COUNTER INTELLIGENCE CORPS and his work in this can now be more fully known as can some of that the OSS did.

His military work and background also strengthens and makes more clearer than ever his longing for privacy rather than 'letting it all hang out' in self-serving ways as some have done or might do. Having known some persons who have done similar work, I can understand and appreciate their reservations and reluctance to discuss what they did and saw and experienced with persons who have or had absolutely no understanding or real idea about war and death and destruction!


I am still going over the book and reading/re-reading sections and looking at the photos and appreciating SALINGER more than I have in the past.