JD Salinger's work had a big impact on me for years after I read it at 17. I then read all of the short stories and I marveled at their craft but never quite in the rapture that Catcher In the Rye had. "Catcher..." was completely original and it was critical of modern society in a way that made most main stream adults uncomfortable. Having a hate-hate relationship with my parents at the time made "Catcher" a tremendous source of comfort but one does grow up so I haven't thought of the young Holden Caulfield, self-centered prep-school wash-out, for more decades than I care to admit.
But the thought of peering onto the private doings of J.D. Salinger and all of his various trysts is creepy like Norman Bates in Psycho obsessed with his mother and unable to move on psychologically. But I'm grateful to J.D. Salinger for showing me what good writing was but the documentary may have to wait for the published work to bleed out and hold him accountable for that. Whether he was a lousy father or spouse is for the gossip mags to hash out.
But the thought of peering onto the private doings of J.D. Salinger and all of his various trysts is creepy like Norman Bates in Psycho obsessed with his mother and unable to move on psychologically. But I'm grateful to J.D. Salinger for showing me what good writing was but the documentary may have to wait for the published work to bleed out and hold him accountable for that. Whether he was a lousy father or spouse is for the gossip mags to hash out.