OT: J.D. Salinger dies at 91...

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January 28th, 2010 at 3:37 PM
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Ghost of Bo
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OT: J.D. Salinger dies at 91...

Link:
http://www.time.com/time/arts/article/0,8599,1957492,00.html?xid=rss-top...

First Howard Zinn, now this. Salinger was poised to become the next great American author in 1951, and then he curiously vanished.

He left behind quite an enigmatic legacy, not to mention The Catcher in the Rye - his masterpiece.

Regardless of your feelings about Catcher in the Rye (an admittedly polarizing book), one must acknowledge his substantial writing talent and his profound effect on readers worldwide.

Rest in peace, JD.

"I drink your milkshake." - Daniel Plainview

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January 28th, 2010 at 3:43 PM | God rest his soul. (Score:1)
bacon1431
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Joined: 07/26/2008
MGoPoints: 3288

God rest his soul.

For a' that, an' a' that, 
Our toils obscure an' a' that, 
The rank is but the guinea's stamp, 
The man's the gowd for a' that. 
January 28th, 2010 at 3:48 PM | RIP (Score:1)
gtanman15
Joined: 07/27/2009
MGoPoints: 0

Loved Catcher in the Rye...but I had him in my death pool.

January 28th, 2010 at 3:54 PM | Read Catcher in the Rye in (Score:1)
WanderingWolve
Joined: 01/03/2009
MGoPoints: 92

Read Catcher in the Rye in 11th grade and really enjoyed it. I didn't know he was still alive...until today obviously.

2010 = Year of Justification and Redemption!

January 28th, 2010 at 3:55 PM | EDIT: Didn't realize I (Score:1)
WanderingWolve
Joined: 01/03/2009
MGoPoints: 92

EDIT: Didn't realize I already hit "save." I'll neg myself

2010 = Year of Justification and Redemption!

January 28th, 2010 at 7:32 PM | Is "negging" oneself a form (Score:1)
AMazinBlue
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Joined: 10/12/2008
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of self-loathing once-removed?

Or is it simply self-deprecation so that others feel an under-whelming desire to pos-bang you.

I just disillusioned myself. I haven't read Catcher in the Rye since I was 16 in high school. It was the first book I read cover to cover without putting it down. Then came Travels With Charley, by Steinbeck. It was at that moment that I knew I was going to be an English major in college. Little did I know that, that and a dollar will get you a newspaper and a cup of coffee in 1987 when I graduated. (USA Today was .50 and I don't drink coffee).

Of course I have been in I.T. for 13 years. Go figure.

What the mind can conceive and believe, the mind can achieve and...Those Who Stay WILL Be Champions.

January 28th, 2010 at 10:32 PM | If others feel an (Score:1)
jmblue
Joined: 11/07/2008
MGoPoints: 28969

If others feel an underwhelming desire to pos-bang a post . . . does that mean they ignore it?

January 28th, 2010 at 4:02 PM | Salinger (Score:1)
Noahdb
Joined: 07/21/2008
MGoPoints: 344

I'm in the opposite camp. I read Catcher in the Rye when I was 18 and despised it. I went back and tried to revisit it to see what I had missed...I still can't figure it out.

Not that it's a reflection on Salinger or anyone who liked the book...just I agree that CITR was polarizing.

January 28th, 2010 at 4:08 PM | Franny and Zooey >>>> Catcher (Score:1)
His Dudeness
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Franny and Zooey >>>> Catcher in the Rye. He spent the final years of his life in isolation fighting off unauthorized publishment of his works. Kind of a sad end for the man.

or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you're not into the whole brevity thing.

January 28th, 2010 at 4:13 PM | Couldn't agree more. Franny (Score:1)
seattleblue
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Couldn't agree more. Franny and Zooey is one of my favorites. All of his short stories on the Glass family are fantastic and in my opinion superior to Catcher in the Rye.

January 28th, 2010 at 4:54 PM | Agreed (Score:1)
Foote Fetish
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First time I read Franny and Zooey I couldn't put it down. Good call.

January 28th, 2010 at 4:12 PM | Salinger was quite a talent. (Score:1)
Musket Rebellion
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Joined: 06/30/2008
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Salinger was quite a talent. Hopefully he'll be at peace now.

www.wolverineliberationarmy.com

January 28th, 2010 at 4:16 PM | The Catcher in the Rye and (Score:1)
MGoJen
Joined: 11/23/2008
MGoPoints: 1301

The Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey are two of my favorite books of all time. (I would underline the titles if I knew how to underline things in MGoBlogLand!)

I first read Catcher as a disillusioned 17 year old and Franny and Zooey as a disillusioned 20 year old. (I did a lot of growing up in college and am much less disillusioned today.) Reading those books was a life-changing experience. After finishing each of them, I was startled that I could connect so deeply with the written word--I found comfort in them.

I always admired Salinger's refusal to comment on his works. I like to think he didn't tell us what he had in mind writing them because he wanted to give us the opportunity to connect with them in our own way. For that alone, I am very grateful.

You'll be better and you'll be smarter and more grown-up and a better daughter. . .

January 28th, 2010 at 4:49 PM | So, now we find out, (Score:1)
Engin77
Joined: 07/02/2008
MGoPoints: 2095

how many books (if any) he wrote during those years in seclusion. I'd estimate the over/under at 2.

Taking it one week at a time

January 28th, 2010 at 5:06 PM | Didn't even realize he was (Score:1)
maizenbluedevil
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Didn't even realize he was still alive...... Catcher in the Rye is a great book, one of my favs. RIP.

 

CJK5H

January 28th, 2010 at 5:59 PM | CITR (Score:1)
mgorichrod
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Joined: 10/23/2009
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If you read the book in high school and haven't read it since, I suggest you pick it up one more time. I read it for summer reading in high school, liked it, but didn't truly appreciate it until taking English 298 last year. You might have a completely different perspective on the book if you revisit it.

"Heroes get remembered...but legends never die."

January 28th, 2010 at 7:44 PM | Salinger (Score:1)
DY
Joined: 07/01/2008
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is the inspiration for James Earl Jone's character Horace Mann in Field of Dreams and in the book Shoeless Joe, Ray Kinsela goes looking for Salinger.

January 28th, 2010 at 8:46 PM | I think it was... (Score:1)
shoelace
Joined: 11/19/2009
MGoPoints: 2

Terrence Mann, not Horace Mann.

"Fumbles the snap...takes off...broken plays are very dangerous for a kid like this! Look at that speed! See ya!"

January 28th, 2010 at 10:05 PM | I really have to wonder how (Score:1)
Bando Calrissian
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I really have to wonder how many people mourning Salinger today were even aware he was still alive. Guy did a pretty credible job of disappearing from the public eye trying not to be famous. I bet 9 out of 10 people thought he died years ago.

January 28th, 2010 at 10:15 PM | My brother put this together years ago - thought of it today. (Score:1)
Cock D
Joined: 06/30/2008
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http://www.xtranormal.com/watch/5410701/

"Yeah, well, you know, that's just, like, your opinion, man." - J.Lebowski

January 28th, 2010 at 10:30 PM | Steinbeck (Score:1)
Noahdb
Joined: 07/21/2008
MGoPoints: 344

+1 for Travels with Charley. Loved that book.

January 28th, 2010 at 11:24 PM | Just finished that one. It (Score:1)
HollandSeaOfBlue
Joined: 01/26/2010
MGoPoints: 26

Just finished that one. It sounded terribly boring until I actually started reading it.

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