J.D. Salinger dies at age 91

J.D. Salinger, author of Catcher in the Rye, Franny & Zooey among other stories, died on Thursday at the age of 91. I know several of you have read both Catcher in the Rye and Franny & Zooey, but you should all become familiar with the name J.D. Salinger, one of the most talked about American authors of 20th century literature. Salinger stopped publishing his writing in the early 1960's and little is known about his personal life.

The following is not a standard obituary, but rather a blog explanation of how J.D. Salinger was responsible for one man becoming a Catholic:

J.D. Salinger died yesterday at the age of 91 and, full disclosure, I’ve never read The Catcher in the Rye. Nor have I bothered getting detailed autobiographical information on Mr. Salinger. I can only say that his work had an effect on my prayer life, thus proving once again, to me anyway, that God continues to work through the secular in unexpected ways.

I was a new Catholic, and interested in deepening my prayer life. I was reading a book on contemplative prayer, Into the Silent Land by Martin Laird. The author mentioned Salinger’s novel Franny and Zooey. F&Z is another of Salinger’s novels that documents the triumphs and travails of the Glass family. Published as short stories in The New Yorker (Franny in 1955 and Zooey in 1957), then put together as one, the book was published in 1961.

If you want a synopsis of this novel, you can easily find many. All I can say is that through Laird, I first learned of The Jesus Prayer, and through Salinger I saw an application of its use and received another lead to a great book which truly had the impact on my prayer life that I was seeking: The Way of the Pilgrim.

Salinger is an enigma to us today and has been for over 40 years. He “dropped out,” fled the world. He was a recluse whom the world didn’t seem to understand. Why did you flee? You had it all J.D.! Why did you not take advantage of your gift? Why did you stop sharing it with us? These seem to me to be much the same circumstances that inspired the Desert Fathers and Mothers to flee the world as well. Perhaps, like them, J.D. figured the world out and decided to become a hermit.

In the past, this kind of behavior was understood to be rational for holy men and women. In the East, it is more appreciated and understood. In the West, it is cause for consternation, contempt, and a judgment by society that you are not a good steward of your talents...

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