J. D. Salinger - I'll always be Holden's fiancée

I just heard about J. D. Salinger death and I'm deeply pained. I told you in the question / answers post that I had written a thesis on The Catcher in the Rye, so you can imagine how I love that book and that author. To me, he was a genius. He managed to catch the teenager's spirit in a way that no one else ever could. It is such a euphemism to say that he was my favorite author, because he was much more than that. I had always wanted to meet him, to thank him for being so inspirational. After all, my 2010 thesis subject (The evolution of the teenager's representation in American Literature) was based partly on Catcher, and it all started with that book.

And I must tell you, the weirdest thing happened today : I was reading "99F", a book by Beigbeder (French author). Beigbeder loved Salinger too, and he quotes a whole extract from Catcher in his book. I came accross this extract today, and felt the most violent emotion. I hadn't read The Catcher in the Rye for two years, and hadn't thought of it for a long time, and after readind the extract, I nearly burst into tears with joy, because it prompted such a good memory, the memory of the book itself. Right away, I decided that I'd hurry to finish "99F" to re read Catcher this very night.

I saw a friend of mine just after I decided this, and told her about Salinger, and how I loved his books, what a genius he was and ... how old he was. I told her "he's old now and I'm afraid he may soon retire".

Only a few hours later, my boyfriend texted me the sad news, and this time, I burst into tears for real. It is stupid to cry for someone you don't even know, but I felt close to him. Today is a very sad day for Salinger's family, and for all the fans out there.

Let me quote Catcher first lines, that I know by heart :

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, an what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them. They're quite touchy about anything like that, especially my father. They're nice and all--I'm not saying that--but they're also touchy as hell. Besides, I'm not going to tell you my whole goddam autobiography or anything. I'll just tell you about this madman stuff that happened to me around last Christmas just before I got pretty run-down and had to come out here and take it easy."