Salinger Photos
citycabn (citycabn@gateway.net)
Thu, 16 Sep 1999 13:04:27 -0700
I must confess when I picked up the Alexander, the very first thing I
looked for was a list of illustrations.
But now looking at the cover of this book, I must say each and every photo
of JDS post '65 I have seen are heartbreaking. One hopes in the safety of
his house a different face comes through. To quote Buddy re Seymour, the
ideal would be along the lines of "...the last absolutely unguarded face in
the Greater New York Area."
For me, visually, he is a triptych of The Catcher photo; the long-range
photo in Life magazine by the wood fence in bathrobe which emulates the
serenity of the swamis and zen masters he was so fond of in the '50s; and
the photo in the back of one of the '40s slicks, a very young Salinger in
what I recall is a military shirt, incredibly handsome, and incredibly shy,
his head down, face half turned from the camera: the young man who one day
would writer The Catcher and the Glass Saga.