J.D. Salinger Dies at 91: The Hermit Crab of American Letters - TIME

J.D. Salinger Dies at 91: The Hermit Crab of American Letters

But I'm not allowed to tell you that, because Salinger's motto was "Don't ever tell anybody anything."

You all know that he wrote Catcher in the Rye and a few stories in the 1950s and 60s, but he is actually better known for the way he lived his life than for his exiguous career output. "Jerry" Salinger was a recluse for the last 45 years of his time on the planet, and we don't know much about him. From what we do know, we can deduce that it would not have been very interesting to know more. He was the most ordinary of old men. He chased people off his lawn. He liked to sit around at home and watch Lawrence Welk and Andy Griffith. Talking to him would have been like talking to your crusty and ancient great-uncle Stanley who still lives by himself on his dilapidated farm in Western Pennsylvania.

Rest assured that he needed his silence. Without it, he had no mystique.

As of today, he won't have to work as hard to maintain it.