J.D. Salinger

I'm watching Charlie Rose episode about this guy who did a book on J.D. Salinger's life. I have not read Salinger since middle school. at Nativity Prep. I have to say, I guess the opinions most people had of his work is completely different than the way I read them as an inner city child. I suppose Catcher in the Rye was supposed to be the most famous condemnation of prep schools written. The funny thing is, that book made me want to go to prep school for some reason. In fact, when I visited a Nativity Alumni at Groton and stayed there, one of his friends reminded me of Holden Caulfield. In fact he turned out to be half Chinese but for some reason, as I continued to read Catcher in the Rye (I did the overnight to Groton in the middle of our class reading the book) I could not picture Holden Caulfield any other way than this person who was a class ahead of me. I ended up going to Groton...and I didn't like it while I was there. But there were times when I obviously enjoyed the atmosphere, more than the projects... but there were times when I swear to God, I missed the projects, I missed Chinatown, and me and my friend (who was not from the inner city) would hang out as 6th formers (seniors) in parts of campus that looked more like they could be part of the inner city. I can't really explain it, but I'm sure some people know what I'm talking about.
Anyway, I didn't know that Salinger wrote Catcher in the Rye while fighting in WWII. In fact he landed on D-Day with the first 6 chapters on his person, and carried that around with him. I may have to take another look at some of these books and stories and definitely read this knew work about his life. But as I start to even think about reading Salinger's work, of entering that world of rich whiteness, my heart starts to beat faster and fearful adrenalin pumps through my veins like some sort of fear. Why is that? It's like I'm afraid to go back to that place even in fiction. Maybe more so in fiction because a story can be more real sometimes than a physical visit.