j.d. salinger (1919 - 2010)

J.D. Salinger has died at the age of 91.

Mr. Salinger...perfected the great trick of literary irony — of validating what you mean by saying less than, or even the opposite of, what you intend. Orville Prescott wrote in The New York Times in 1963, “Rarely if ever in literary history has a handful of stories aroused so much discussion, controversy, praise, denunciation, mystification and interpretation.”

The above quote is from the New York Times obituary. Some other noteworthy links...

From The Onion: Bunch of Phonies Mourn J.D. Salinger
Virginia Heffernan: "Mountain Man"
David Ulin on Salinger's gift of words and silence
How Salinger's NH neighbors had his back
Lillian Ross on "my long friendship with J.D. Salinger."
Kim Morgan: Salinger Inspired Cinema
Michiko Kakutani on teen angst and an author's alienation
A round-up of songs about Catcher in the Rye
A William Wiegand review from 1959: "The Knighthood of J.D. Salinger"
Secret J.D. Salinger Documentary Revealed