The old recluse and one-hit wonder J.D. Salinger died yesterday at 91, following Howard Zinn by a day.
Unlike Howard Zinn, who never gave an inch and never surrendered, J.D. Salinger gave up the fight early in life and left the world. He's still one of my heroes, though.
His one hit, of course, was "The Catcher in the Rye," a picaresque tale concerning the weekend adventures of one Holden Caulfield, age 16, who returns home to Park Avenue, NYC, via a seedy downtown hotel to tell his parents he's been kicked out the toney prep school they were sending him to -- again.
Holden was smart and sensitive enough to know that society sucks, but he hadn't matured enough to figure out a way to live a decent and satisfying life inside such a beast.
I don't think he ever did tell us where the ducks go in the winter.
Holden asked a cab driver that one time. The cabbie said, "What're you tryna do, bud, kid me?"
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