Wednesday, as reported by the Boston Globe, The talented and notoriously reclusive writer JD Salinger passed away Wednesday at the age of 91, according to the Boston Globe. Salinger spent his last days in his Cornish, N.H. home, an isolated sanctuary where he reveled in his privacy until the very end.
Salinger’s longtime literary agent, Phyllis Westberg, told the Globe that Salinger passed due to natural causes. Westberg also poignantly commented on the Salinger’s isolation.
"Salinger had remarked that he was in this world but not of it. His body is gone but the family hopes that he is still with those he loves, whether they are religious or historical figures, personal friends or fictional characters.”
He is survived by his two children, Margaret and Matthew, and his third wife, Colleen O’Neil.
Many have tried to capture and understand the great mystery that was JD Salinger, including a memoir entitled Dream Catcher by his daughter Margaret, which painted Salinger as a self-centered, spiteful man who resented women. Joyce Maynard also released a scathing memoir regarding her nine-month affair with Salinger when she was 18 years old. CNN reported that his last interview was given in 1981 to The Advocate of Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
Catcher in the Rye, published in 1951, was Salinger’s only novel and it brought him the greatest notoriety. Holden Caulfield, the novel’s protagonist, has become the iconic image for troubled teens. His short stories, which were published in the New Yorker, were collected into a book entitled Nine Stories.
Check back as more information is gathered about Salinger’s death.
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