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Thursday, January 28, 2010
RIP J.D. Salinger
-- A Taste from TheInkFlowsLikeWine.com
Genius author J.D. Salinger has died, he was a whopping 91. Always the recluse, Salinger wrote one of the best novels of all time. I remember in 9th grade when I read this book, amongst the horrible crap I was forced to read that year (Edith Frome? Give me break, what crap... Anything by Jan Austen, some one kill me). That book changed my life in that I suddenly cared about writing and reading again. In terms of modern literature, it's nothing too crazy really, but when you read it from the perspective of having never supposedly read a good book in your life, it opens up a world of possibilities.
Not to just harp on his novel, his short stories were equally brilliant. I still occasionally read some of Nine Stories or Franny and Zooey. I also think that partially, one doesn't really understand his work until living in NYC for a little while. Everything there still has some feel of classic-ness to it, despite the massive Gap ads. I mean, the Glass family was the original "Royal Tanenbaums".
As far as the man's private life goes, (drinking his urine), whatever, I could care less. The man has his right to privacy, and if you'd written something as sacred as his novel, would you want someone taking the piss out of it by commercializing it or trying to make money off of your life?
Nonetheless, we lost another great literary figure, and I'd like to offer up this thought: Who's left that is truly great? Who's left that really shook things up? Who's left that's really worth reading, that actually has something to say beyond shock value nowadays?
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