On Salinger

This astute appraisal of J.D. Salinger’s work by Michiko Kakutani encapsulate the conflict many writers face. To write, one must know the world. The keen observations that resonate with readers and define literature with a lasting shelf life all come from being profoundly affected by the world.  But yet the writer, if sensitive and sharp enough to attune to the frequency of human behavior, is also apart from it.  In order to do her job, the writer must hush any external voices, shut out distractions, and listen to a voice that is at once her own and that of the story that aches to be told.  

So the writer must take what she can; it is both inner serenity and turmoil that shape her work. Perhaps Salinger was caught deeply in this dilemma; the greater his success, the further from the world he retreated, until there were no more stories to be told.  This sort of torture is known by those who feel their work is inspired one day and worthless the next. Indeed, all of Salinger’s stories are versions of his own.

“If the writing is honest it cannot be separated from the man who wrote it.”  – Tennessee Williams

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/29/books/29appraisal.html?src=tp