Comments on: j.d. salinger | 1919 – 2010

By: Jeffrey Winke

Jeffrey Winke — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 01:38:09 +0000

Thanks Norb for your insights and revelations. Fiercely relevant and expressed splendidly.

By: Barbara Fitz Vroman

Barbara Fitz Vroman — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 16:58:47 +0000

When I was writing my first published pieces for a local newspaper,
the editor took enough interest in me to provide me with Catcher, To Esme with
Love, Franny and Zooey and Nine Stories. You have inspired me to dig them out
and reread them with new wisdom now. What I remember most was a passage where Seymour (think it was Seymour) said that the child he was taking care of,
the highchair, the glass of milk, the milk itself were all God. Everything was God.
It summed up what was happening to Salinger himself. And then…
Salinger disappeared. He wrote no more. He found a safehold from all publicity.
I mentioned Salinger once to Dale Wasserman, the playwrite who created
One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and other broadway plays, when he was
teaching at Rhinelander. He laughed and said he had had lunch with Salinger
not long before and “Salinger is fine. He has learned not to need anything
anymore.” Not to need anything anymore while one is still living sounds both
fine and terrible.

By: Steve Fortney

Steve Fortney — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 20:40:12 +0000

when catcher came out, i told my did to read it. he was a lutheran pastor. of firm attitude. he read it. here is his literary criticism:

“It’s the case history of a creep.”

Oh, well…..

sdf

By: David Dix sr.

David Dix sr. — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:21:30 +0000

“Unusual book…..you will never forget it.” Indeed.

Now comes a good part. The overlays of the biographs that will flow. The New Yorker in the front ranks in current issue with a memory of Lillian Ross.

Your summation as generated by your initial thoughts, as you allow, was terrific.
Thanks to the Ellison Bay coop occupant! I will forward it to several.

By: Robert M. Zoschke

Robert M. Zoschke — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:58:56 +0000

JACK KEROUAC, 1949 Journal Entry–”I thank you, God, with all of my heart, for this undeserved good fortune…coming years after I prayed for it to you. Now I see that all good luck and all bad luck are unintended by you; that it is Something Else you wish to reveal…and that is, humility and care wherever & whenever, whatever & whichevers and what-all, on Earth. Teach me to see. Teach me to pray. God preserve my Want of your mysterious wishes. Don’t frighten me with gratuitous heapings of good fortune, as I have been needlessy frightened by the bad. Teach me no Fear of you, but Understanding of your mysterious wishes, so I may Comply. (And God is the only critic who cares little for style, eh?) A WRITING RULE–No need to create effects, as in recreating atmosphere, when these mere effects come naturally (as in life) as a result of desired events. Thus, write as you might live.”

By: Jude,hey

Jude,hey — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 14:24:30 +0000

I still have the copy I read in high school > I swear I knew this dude and, as did everyone else apparently: dug ‘im. But I was not aware of all of the above ~ once again, you’ve turned the light on. My “Read” list has just grown by four … oy!
(thanks-always, NorbertO).

By: Jon Wolston

Jon Wolston — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 13:37:20 +0000

Nice piece. Now I know why they call it “getting the clap.”

By: Gar

Gar — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 22:13:52 +0000

Thanks for this insight, Norb. I’ve read Salinger and keep going back re-reading. I wonder when the hidden, unpublished books will appear. Yeah, I’m going to read them. -Gar