Poetic Obituaries: "He was famous for not wanting

to be famous," wrote the late British biographer Ian Hamilton in his 1988 book, "In Search of J.D. Salinger."

Still, fans and journalists sought out [Jerome David] Salinger over the decades in letters and trips to New Hampshire. His last-known interview was in 1980 with Betty Eppes, a reporter for the Baton Rouge Advocate whose quest to meet the author was turned into a feature for the Paris Review.

"The Catcher in the Rye," told in the slang-filled narrative of the troubled 16-year-old prep-school student Caulfield, turned Salinger into an American literary star. The novel marked a break from fictional depictions of youth that eschewed themes of self, sexuality and alienation and is credited with jump-starting the so-called Beat Generation of writers including Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William S. Burroughs.

from Bloomberg: Salinger, Reclusive 'Catcher in the Rye' Author, Dies at 91
also Union Leader: Salinger's privacy now sacrosanct
also Slate: Salinger's Genius
also Jewish Journal: J.D. Salinger, novelist of modern anomie, dead at 91

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