Remembering JD Salinger

The Christian Science Monitor - If you've been to high school in the US in the past 50 years, then you know his book. J.D. Salinger was not as prolific as many authors, but few could even dream of being as influential. Today, Salinger's son announced that, after years of life in seclusion, his father, author of the 1951 classic "The Catcher in the Rye," died yesterday at his home in Cornish, N.H. Salinger was 91.

After "Catcher in the Rye," Salinger went on to publish a handful of additional works, acclaimed by critics and fans alike – "Nine Stories" (1953), "Franny and Zooey" (1961) and "Raise High the Roof Beams, Carpenters" (1963). But nothing else would capture the world's attention to quite the extent of "The Catcher in the Rye," with its alienated, disillusioned, prep school dropout narrator, Holden Caulfield.

An early obituary of Salinger credits "The Catcher in the Rye" with long- and wide-ranging impact. "Novels from Evan Hunter's 'The Blackboard Jungle' to Curtis Sittenfeld's 'Prep,' movies from 'Rebel Without a Cause' to 'The Breakfast Club,' and countless rock 'n' roll songs echoed Salinger's message of kids under siege," writes Hillel Italie. "One of the great anti-heroes of the 1960s, Benjamin Braddock of 'The Graduate,' was but a blander version of Salinger's narrator." Read more.