The news everyone expected came on Wednesday, the 27th of January - the death of J.D. Salinger. To be honest with you, I think it was expected. Being 91 years old, it shouldn't come as a shock that he finally did pass on...he has more or less been 'dead' since he's been in and out of seclusion for the past 50+ years. I will mention he was on my 'short list'. My short list, being the authors who will soon die, and I am to purchase any and all copies of their work before they finally pass on, before their items become priced out of reach. Unfortunately, his works were a lower priority than others, so I never got around to purchasing those 1940's Story Magazine or New Yorker back issues.
The one very interesting twist to this story is what has Salinger been doing for the past 50 years? One of his last published interviews said, “There is a marvelous peace in not publishing. It’s peaceful. Still. Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure.” But what exactly has he been writing? One other article I recently read mentions a neighbor of his said he has written something like 15 novels, and has them locked up in the bank vault. Get Harold Ober Associates in that vault, before the will is read and everything is burned. Even though I never knew Salinger personally (obviously), I think as a last dying wish, he would want all his unpublished material burned, and the ashes used to bury his coffin - unless he actually was practicing Zen Buddhism up till the end and will be cremated.
I just hope now he has finally found his solitude he spent so much time and effort seeking.
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