found this by jontv back in the day:
> I just had to chime into this thread about JDS pics. I have the Life
> magazine from Nov. 3 1961 that has the Ernest Havemann piece on JDS. The
> article is titled "The Search for the Mysterious J.D. Salinger". There
> are several photographs....
I've never seen it, but I think there was one taken of him in the the mid-
to late-eighties. I've heard quite a bit about it because that pic went
on to inspire (in part, at least) Don DeLillo's book, MAO II. DeLillo
just published a new book, UNDERWORLD, and gave a very rare interview for
THE NEW YORKER (DeLillo is not so reclusive as Salinger, but he's a hermit
by industry standards) in which he talked about that picture and the
effect it had on him. I will go try to find it, in case someone wants to
know more.
Well, I wasn't able to track it down, but I know it came after the Sept.
8 issue, which has an excerpt from the novel. So if you want to check it
out, it shouldn't be too hard to find.
If I remember correctly, what struck DeLillo about the photo is Salinger's
expression: the total fear and disgust and frustration he felt at being
ambushed by a camera. MAO II, in turn, is a book about public notoriety
and the various implications of various people's dependence on it. The
plight of a reclusive novelist (the main character) is compared with that
of political terrorists -- who are also dependent on attention from a
news-media kept at arm's length -- and the media are compared with the
terrorists, as well. It's very interesting, and I would recommend it or
anything else by DeLillo -- especially WHITE NOISE, which is one of my
very favorite books.
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Received on Fri Nov 14 15:21:04 2003
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