The Death of J.D. Salinger

As we all know, over the week the great American author, J.D. Salinger died at the age of ninety-one.

Being able to identify him as 'great' could seem problematic when the volume of his work is taken into consideration. We all know him as the writer that penned Catcher in the Rye. Many of us read this book while growing up and identified with the troubled, conflicting emotions of the main character Holden Caufield. But this was not simply a teen angst novel. Salinger perfectly caught the glimmer of teenage rebellion and placed it within the overall scheme of a life. While the struggle of Caufield was one of a hormonal teenager, it was treated as an important stage in his life. Salinger made the trivial important and in doing so, added importance to our own trivial lives.

Along with Catcher in the Rye, Salinger wrote a relatively small number of short stories. This is the total sum of his published works and has been a talking point for many critics over the past few decades. Salinger essentially disappeared off the literary map and went into hiding for decades. Some saw this as a confirmation of their opinion that Salinger had a limited vision for his literature, while others felt that he was doing a disservice to the literary community by isolating his talent.

Without really knowing the man I would still like to posit an alternative theory. Some critics have made the claim that Salinger felt that remaining in the public eye would compromise his work. While I do believe that he could have published many more fantastic works regardless of this pressure, this defense of artistic vision does ring true in relation to Catcher in the Rye. Holden constantly berates the 'phonies' that do not follow up on their promises and are only out to please themselves. This novel made every reader as important as the next and also as important as the writer. By becoming a recluse in this way, Salinger confirmed his own artistic vision in Catcher and made the book a more meaningful identification of ordinary heroics.

J.D. Salinger sacrificed his potential fame and fortune to imbue his work with more poignancy and this certainly allows us to call him 'great'.

-The English Student