Which is 1/27.
For those of you who have followed my antics here, you might recall my fondness for the number 127.
Here's one time I mention it.
Here's another, earlier, time I mention it.
It's a lucky number for my mother.
Her first name is Sarah.
127 is the age when our biblical matriarch Sarah passed away.
It's the number when you add up its digits gets to 10.
And who doesn't love a perfect 10.
So, why is it that I missed that Salinger passed away on 1/27?
Read about my fascination with Salinger books.
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| J.D. Salinger drawing that appeared on the cover of Time Magazine |
I just finished watching the Salinger documentary from last year
All Americans should see this.
We all loved and love Catcher in the Rye.
You may think I am biased, since my college advisor and favorite professor, Stephen J. Whitfield, appears as a commentator in the film.
But I loved this movie even before I saw him in it.
No, I didn't know he was in it.
I do believe strongly that the sporadic release of Salinger's remaining works from 2015-2020, as noted by the film, will play a strong role in creating positive energy in the world.
It is a good thing!
There is no doubt in my mind that larger questions of religion and God existed for Salinger. His Glass family practices a religion, after all. Seymour commits suicide. Salinger's father was Jewish and he helped to liberate the camps. He served as a counterintelligence officer soon after the war. He tried catching Nazis. He married a former Nazi and soon divorced her. I wish I could have had Jerry Salinger over for a shabbes dinner at our house. I think he would have liked my challah. I hope he would have had fun. I just had some popcorn with brewer's yeast on it. Good stuff. But what about warm chocolate babka? That would be good, too.
Forget about the music I love affecting so many Americans for the good. (for the moment, at least!)
J.D. Salinger's books affected so many Americans for the good.
And, disturbingly, as noted in the film, they affected not just one but 3 Americans for the bad in their assassinations or attempted assassinations of famous people. That concerns me but as Salinger said to his fans, he isn't a therapist. He did good for the world by writing what he wrote. And it will be so exciting to read the rest of his goods in the next decade. The Glass and Caulfield families will finally rise to their fullest potentials in American literature.
I imagine little Suzy Greenberg, a girl who said she wants to be a sociologist but it was suggested she should get checked by a neurologist, must've read Catcher and related to Holden just as much as the next girl.
I loved reading about the Glass children (was it Franny or Zooey?) when we lived in New Haven, envisioning myself on the very platform I used to ascend when I commuted to Manhattan from there in 2003.
Thanks, Mr. Salinger.
This blog post comes from a good place and the best of intentions.
I only claim to be an ideas person who wants good in the world.
