RIP JD

[embiggen]

according to his daughter, he loved acupuncture ( ) and drank his own pee.

[Dude]

Matt Salinger has led a busy life starring as Captain America in this and other c-movies:

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cs8rFsmhNTc

[u2roolz]

For those interested, you can watch that Captain America film in its entirety over at Hulu.com.

[kimcatch22]

Salinger's uncollected stories, including citations for where they were originally printed. Also includes text of Franny and Zooey, Nine Stories, and Catcher:

http://www.freeweb.hu/tchl/salinger/

 

RIP to my favorite author. I even named my cat Zooey...

[SarahC]

Fucking Onion, brilliant. Awesome.

 

I read The Laughing Man before falling asleep last night. I feel like rereading everything now.

 

One thing about Catcher - I grew up (as I know most everyone else here did) in a post-Lennon world, for most part. The association between Mark David Chapman and Catcher In The Rye was impossible to ignore, for me. And I think that was one of the reasons I put off reading it for so long. It wasn't required reading in high school (my town's school system is apparently the only one in America that didn't require it), and though I started it once in my late teens, I dropped it early and picked up a Vonnegut book instead (probably). The reason was that Chapman claimed to be inspired by this book, which translated to me that the storyteller ends up committing a horrifying act toward the end of his story. The title sounds ominous, Holden seems just about unhinged, so why not? When I finally read it, and he got to the point of telling me what he really wanted to do, what the title meant, I lost all sense of fear and cynicism and doubt in him, even just for that moment (a moment I can repeat over and over, thankfully, by just thinking of it). I was expecting the worst of him, and he showed me that no, it wasn't like that, it's like this.

This reaction/experience to reading it probably isn't very different from others', even pre-Lennon's death. It really did seem like he was going to lose it, and that the title could refer to a horrible impulse. Either way, I know I was glad to have the spectre of Chapman's twisted influence gone forever from my thoughts about Catcher.

Funny how you say you were scared to read it cos of Chapman. I was too. I was scared I was going to be crazy like him if I read it, seriously. For years i wouldn't read it, then learned the Old 97's song "Roller Skate Skinny" had references to it, and Rhett isn't nuts, so I figured it was safe to read.

[mpolak21]

Funny how you say you were scared to read it cos of Chapman. I was too. I was scared I was going to be crazy like him if I read it, seriously. For years i wouldn't read it, then learned the Old 97's song "Roller Skate Skinny" had references to it, and Rhett isn't nuts, so I figured it was safe to read.

 

I still haven't read Catcher because of Chapman, I am not sure I ever will actually. It's weird though because Nine Stories and Franny and Zooey are among my favorite books, but Catcher always spooked me a bit, and I have stayed away from it. I guess now is as good a time as ever to fix that.

 

--Mike

[HungryHippo]

I still haven't read Catcher because of Chapman, I am not sure I ever will actually. It's weird though because Nine Stories and Franny and Zooey are among my favorite books, but Catcher always spooked me a bit, and I have stayed away from it. I guess now is as good a time as ever to fix that.

 

--Mike

CITR is like LSD. once you ingest it, you'll never be the same.

[LouieB]

Not reading CITR because of MD Chapman is like not listening to the Beatles because of Charles Manson....

 

LouieB

[mpolak21]

Not reading CITR because of MD Chapman is like not listening to the Beatles because of Charles Manson....

 

LouieB

 

I did skip over Helter Skelter for like the first year I had the White Album, suffice to say I'm pretty fucking neurotic.

 

--Mike

[bjorn_skurj]

CITR is like LSD. once you ingest it, you'll never be the same.

I don't know if I would go that far, but I will endorse it as one of the best (probably THE best) renderings of the pissed-off teenage mind ever.

[Analogman]

Also - John Hinckley, Jr. and Robert John Bardo.

 

Maybe because I was older when I first read it, but I never got into the book all that much. I think it was banned in my high school. I can't recall for certain though. I've read the other books, more than once, but I would not cite Salinger as a favorite.

 

I think I also read the book that Joyce Maynard wrote several years ago.

[Sir Stewart]

Not reading CITR because of MD Chapman is like not listening to the Beatles because of Charles Manson....

 

LouieB

 

I can see your point, but it's not a good parallel. For one thing, investing in a book is a whole different animal from listening to a record. And Manson was open about what "influenced" him: Piggies, Helter Skelter, etc. (Imagine what more havoc would have been wreaked if Manson shared a birthday with McCartney!)

Chapman's obsession with Catcher was more vague, and the connection seemed more troubling to me. Where Manson just seemed nutso, Chapman was quiet, composed. The book seemed dangerous.

[uncool2pillow]

Not reading CITR because of MD Chapman is like not listening to the Beatles because of Charles Manson....

 

LouieB

Speaking of MD Chapman

[HungryHippo]

I don't know if I would go that far, but I will endorse it as one of the best (probably THE best) renderings of the pissed-off teenage mind ever.

true. I'm a bit biased being that I was 17 when I read it. back in them days, it was all about; Thoreau, The Sex Pistols, and Salinger. that was a deadly combination of heroes. now I wear a tie to work every day, haha.

[tugmoose]

In somewhat related news, my buddy John Campanelli just got an exclusive interview with elusive Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson. Maybe Watterson got a little spooked by Salinger's passing.

[LouieB]

I can see your point, but it's not a good parallel. For one thing, investing in a book is a whole different animal from listening to a record. And Manson was open about what "influenced" him: Piggies, Helter Skelter, etc. (Imagine what more havoc would have been wreaked if Manson shared a birthday with McCartney!)

Chapman's obsession with Catcher was more vague, and the connection seemed more troubling to me. Where Manson just seemed nutso, Chapman was quiet, composed. The book seemed dangerous.

Anyone who takes a work of art as a reason to kill someone is dangerous, no matter how quiet and composed they seemed. The work itself is not dangerous.

 

LouieB

[Dude]

Anyone who takes a work of art as a reason to kill someone is dangerous, no matter how quiet and composed they seemed. The work itself is not dangerous.

 

LouieB

 

Exactly. I don't recall the passages in Catcher that describe in detail how to stalk and kill beloved entertainers.

[Sir Stewart]

Dude, Louie, you're not even reading my posts. Don't bother replying to them. I never said the fucking work was dangerous. Christ.

[Central Scrutinizer]

In somewhat related news, my buddy John Campanelli just got an exclusive interview with elusive Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson. Maybe Watterson got a little spooked by Salinger's passing.

Thanks for posting this.

[calvino]

I never said the fucking work was dangerous. Christ.

But didn't you imply that you thought it was a bit dangerous or at least "ominous" before you actually read it because of the Chapman association? At least that is what I came away from the below post.

 

One thing about Catcher - I grew up (as I know most everyone else here did) in a post-Lennon world, for most part. The association between Mark David Chapman and Catcher In The Rye was impossible to ignore, for me. And I think that was one of the reasons I put off reading it for so long. It wasn't required reading in high school (my town's school system is apparently the only one in America that didn't require it), and though I started it once in my late teens, I dropped it early and picked up a Vonnegut book instead (probably). The reason was that Chapman claimed to be inspired by this book, which translated to me that the storyteller ends up committing a horrifying act toward the end of his story. The title sounds ominous, Holden seems just about unhinged, so why not? When I finally read it, and he got to the point of telling me what he really wanted to do, what the title meant, I lost all sense of fear and cynicism and doubt in him, even just for that moment (a moment I can repeat over and over, thankfully, by just thinking of it). I was expecting the worst of him, and he showed me that no, it wasn't like that, it's like this.

This reaction/experience to reading it probably isn't very different from others', even pre-Lennon's death. It really did seem like he was going to lose it, and that the title could refer to a horrible impulse. Either way, I know I was glad to have the spectre of Chapman's twisted influence gone forever from my thoughts about Catcher.

[Guest Speed Racer]

What the bolded text says is SS thought the book would have a sad ending. How, in any way, does that translate to him thinking the book is "dangerous"?

[calvino]

What the bolded text says is SS thought the book would have a sad ending. How, in any way, does that translate to him thinking the book is "dangerous"?

 

Okay, got it.

[Dude]

Chapman's obsession with Catcher was more vague, and the connection seemed more troubling to me. Where Manson just seemed nutso, Chapman was quiet, composed. The book seemed dangerous.

 

I was just responding to this. A lot of people (not even you, SS, more people in the media) have suggested Catcher was dangerous due to the connections between killers or attempted killers. Apparently you yourself bought into that hype a bit too much prior to reading Catcher, and that's a shame. Obviously the actual novel has about as much to do with killing celebs as Helter Skelter has to do with starting a race war.

 

I think it's yet another reason a guy like Salinger withdrew into his shell.

[radiokills]

i need to reread catcher in the rye and franny and zooey

[Sir Stewart]

I think I overreacted to Louie/Dude's replies. And calvino got it too. I poorly worded my original post. I can see how one would think I considered CITR to be potentially 'dangerous' before I read it, from what I wrote. What I should've said was it seemed 'menacing', or 'unsavory' to me, for the longest time. I sort of vaguely used to think: why would I want to read a book that obviously must have something so awful occur in it that MDC went and killed Lennon?

Of course Lennon's fate was sealed when he said the boys were bigger than Christ, according to MDC, so, there's that, too.