Thoughts on J.D. Salinger and Catcher in the Rye

Last week J.D. Salinger passed away. We all heard the running eulogies on NPR and read them in the papers, and I had a mixed feeling when I heard he had passed.

There have only been a few people who've told me they could hear Holden Caufield in Blue Like Jazz, and that surprised me. The truth is I read Catcher in the Rye about fifty times while I was writing it. I'd sit and read for an hour and then open up the computer and start typing. I suppose the prose was imitation, but all good writers ...