RIP J.D. Salinger

J.D Salinger on the cover of Time Magazine, September 15, 1961

I feel like I've been punched in the stomach. He was an old man, but his passing still hurts. His reclusiveness, depriving the world of any words or images, has made it seem as if he has never aged. And haven't we all been hoping that he'd eventually break his silence? Publish something again? Anything! It's over now.


This bit from The Catcher in the Rye jumps out at me now that he has passed:

"Boy, when you're dead, they really fix you up. I hope to hell when I do die somebody has sense enough to just dump me in the river or something. Anything except sticking me in a goddam cemetery. People coming and putting a bunch of flowers on your stomach on Sunday, and all that crap. Who wants flowers when you're dead? Nobody."

Obituary on NPR.org