Defending "R.I.P. J.D. Salinger"

I've just been part of a Facebook thread which began with my posting "R.I.P. J.D. Salinger." I've been surprised at the tone of the discussion. Some people have questioned the sincerity of posting an "R.I.P." when someone dies. Others have said that Salinger was good only to give white people permission to imagine that they had problems. Others have compared him negatively to John Lennon, pointing out that he wrote his book and disappeared, whereas Lennon went more and more public with his dissent. I don't want to turn this into a major issue, but here's my answer:

Since I did post R.I.P. J.D. Salinger--I can say I was actually sincere in feeling that. Even though Salinger sought utter solitude, somewhere the mind that came to "Catcher" was still working--and maybe in privacy he was still writing. We won't know that for a while. So his passing is sad because something that moved the world forward is no more. Now I've defended my R.I.P.

As to his contribution, I don't think it was just to let white people pretend that they have problems. White people were stuck in a horrible plantation mentality. "Catcher" was part of breaking that loose--and, at least for myself--it was one of many things (Rolling Stones, Hells Angels, Tim Leary and more) that gave me permission to leave Orange County California and join the anti-war movement and civil rights movement. The book didn't do it all by itself, but everyone who's in any way progressive or even a little bit liberated owes a smidgen of gratitude to Mr. Caulfield.

Lennon was true to his message with his life. That is admirable and beautiful and wonderful. He used his celebrity to increase the power of his opinions about justice. But Salinger's dropping out was, in the opinion of many people, his way of saying that the world had to change. I'm not comparing one to the other in terms of effectiveness, but I am saying that there is the obvious and then there is the power of suggestion.

I hope that when I kick the bucket that my list is complete, that somebody writes "R.I.P. Brent" on Facebook (or iFacebook as is may be by then), and that a bunch of people of many different age groups have reason to argue on pages like these about the effectiveness of my life, the worth of my books, and toss my name around in the company of some of my heroes--even if it means that I'm being compared negatively to them. We all measure success differently, but I'd settle for that. So J.D. hasn't done so bad.