Everyone should have a Salinger story. Mine takes place in 1999.
I was working at a popular bookshop in the Bay Area and Salinger's one time lady love Joyce Maynard was a regular customer. She was also a writer herself and she had recently decided to publish her controversial memoirs detailing her love affair with Salinger. She was planning on doing her first major book signing at the shop as well as take part in a lengthy Q & A session. A few days before the event was scheduled to take place J.D. Salinger called the bookshop and spoke to the owners. He said he wanted to appear with her and offer his own insights and opinions about what took place between himself and Maynard. Naturally they said yes. Quiet chaos erupted in the shop as plans for Salinger's unexpected visit were discussed in hushed tones and behind closed doors. Rumors circulated like small garden snakes trying to find shelter from an unexpected downpour. Things got complicated quickly. It seems Salinger didn't want the bookshop to advertise his visit. But the shop was losing business daily and they knew that Salinger’s appearance would generate huge crowds, much publicity and book sales. Security issues were considered. Passions flared in the back rooms of the shop as we debated Salinger's work and Maynard's confessions. And then suddenly it was over. Salinger had changed his mind. He would not be coming to Maynard's signing and he didn't want to take part in any joint discussion about their relationship.
“I don't even know what I was running for - I guess I just felt like it.”
~ J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
Like a lot of people I first discovered Salinger in high school. I was just 15 at the time and stuck in some reform school because I liked to skip class, never did any homework, got into fights, did drugs and had an increasingly bad attitude. One day when I was sitting in the cafeteria all by myself I noticed a book that was left on another table. I casually picked it up and read the cover. The title caught my attention. I'd never heard of The Catcher in the Rye before or the author but for some reason I decided to stick the slim paperback into the pocket of my leather jacket. For the rest of the week I spent my lunch hour reading my pocketed copy of Catcher in the Rye. The book wove it's spell on me like it had on countless other young readers and I fell in love with it. I still own that battered and bruised paperback and I'm forever grateful to whoever decided to leave their neglected copy of Catcher n the Rye in the cafeteria.
R.I.P. J.D. Salinger
Recommended Link: Dead Caulfields
