A Sad Day for Bananafish

Sad news marauders. If you havn't heard already, the talented J.D. Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye, has died today at 91 of natural causes.

"It's everybody, I mean. Everything everybody does is so — I don't know — not wrong, or even mean, or even stupid necessarily. But just so tiny and meaningless and — sad-making. And the worst part is, if you go bohemian or something crazy like that, you're conforming just as much only in a different way."

-"Ask her if she still keeps all of her kings in the back row" - Catcher in the Rye

Salinger was known most for his beloved coming of age novel, Catcher in the Rye. Catcher in the Rye is taught in thousands of highschools across the country, and is a comforting voice for teenagers everywhere struggling with the difficult task of growing up.

In his late years Salinger had become something of a recluse. It is rumored that Salinger has been writing consistently during the vast void between his death and his public success, but nothing has been published.

"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 live to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure. ... I don't necessarily intend to publish posthumously, but I do like to write for myself. ... I pay for this kind of attitude. I'm known as a strange, aloof kind of man. But all I'm doing is trying to protect myself and my work."

Although we are not huge fans of Catcher in the Rye (it's a little too angsty for our taste) we still recognize him as a legend; he is the writer of one of our favorite book of short stories entitled Nine Stories. And although he rejected the fame, and hid away in his New Hampshire mansion for most of his life, he is still one of best literary voices of our generation, and he will be greatly missed.

"It's History. It's Poetry."