News has come today that literary giant, wordsmith extraordinaire and reclusive author J.D. Salinger has died at the age of 91 at his home in New Hampshire.
Though it is his novel The Catcher in the Rye that receives the most accolades, it was Salinger's brutally funny and unfathomably deep Franny and Zooey, published in 1961 as one novella, that made the biggest impression on me and many others. Focused on the two youngest members of the Glass family--the much storied and beloved group of geniuses, quick-wits and troubled souls--it is a tale of intellectual and artistic crisis that manifests itself as a spiritual quest.
Franny is a twenty year old college student with aspirations of becoming an actor. Her brief experience thus far has taught her that theatre can often be corrupt and fake--a realization that sends her into a tailspin and she returns to the family's home in New York a nervous wreck. Her brother Zooey tries to snap her out of her despair using his usual caustic and sardonic style, but to no avail. He is then left with no other choice but to seek guidance from his two older yet wholly absent brothers, Buddy and Seymour, in order to help her.
In the end, Zooey councils Franny on what it means to be an artist and it is a revelation that bridges all mediums:
"Did you know we saw you in 'Playboy of the Western World' one night? One god-awful hot night...
And I'll tell you, buddy. You were good. And when I say good, I mean good. You held that goddam mess up. Even all those sunburned lobsters in the audience knew it. And now I hear you're finished with the theatre forever--I hear things, I hear things. And I remember the spiel you came back with when the season was over. Oh, you irritate me, Franny! I'm sorry, you do. You've made the great startling goddam discovery that the acting profession's loaded with mercenaries and butchers. As I remember, you even looked like somebody who'd just been shattered because all the ushers hadn't been geniuses. What's the matter with you, buddy? Where are your brains? If you've had a freakish education, at least use it, use it...
But the thing is, you raved and you bitched when you came home about the stupidity of audiences. The goddam 'unskilled laughter' coming from the fifth row. And that's right, that's right--God knows it's depressing. I'm not saying it isn't. But that's none of your business, Franny. An artist's only concern is to shoot for some kind of perfection, and on his own terms, not anyone else's. You have no right to think about those things, I swear to you. Not in any real sense, anyway. You know what I mean?"
Indeed I do, Mr. Glass/Salinger, indeed I do.
In a closing comment for the story aired on NPR's All Things Considered this evening, Robert Siegel made the observation that, because he refused to give interviews for the last 50 years of his life, Salinger didn't tell us much. I couldn't disagree more. Through his work, he told us everything we need to know.
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RIP J.D.Salinger was a great author and we can't forget such good author.He was known for his novel Catcher in the Rye.Thank you very much for this nice post.
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