J.D. Salinger, the American author of The Catcher in the Rye who was once described as “the Greta Garbo of literature,” died yesterday of natural causes at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire. He was 91.
The celebrated author chose to spend the last half-century of his life in virtual seclusion, guarding his privacy with such fervor that he only succeeded in fanning the flames of public curiosity. As Paul Alexander put it in his book Salinger: A Biography, “He became famous for wanting not to be famous.” But of course, Salinger’s main claim to fame has always been as the man who wrote The Catcher in the Rye.
Read all about him here
