J. D. Salinger_ A Life - Kenneth Slawenski [226]
• • •
The Appellate Court heard the case on September 3 without rendering judgment. Salinger’s ninety-first birthday arrived with no indication of a decision forthcoming. Whatever the outcome, it would have far-reaching implications for American copyright law, but for Salinger, the conclusion was already apparent. Regardless of the legal verdict, he had already lost his grip on Holden Caulfield and was now struggling to retain control over his own legacy. The media’s reaction to events was predictable. Confident of no response from the author, they grew weary of Salinger’s arguments and were soon delivering a medley of complaints, demanding that he cease litigation and accusing him of sacrificing the First Amendment in order to protect his personal interests.
Salinger might have employed the same lawyer as when he challenged Ian Hamilton and found his case decided within the same federal courts, but the world had changed since 1987—far more than he seemed to have realized. The sequel’s publication in Europe placed it beyond the reach of U.S. copyright law and therefore available for sale worldwide through the Internet. Regardless of legal conclusions, 60 Years Later would be accessible to anyone in any nation with a mailing address and access to a computer, a situation that was not lost on the Appellate Court.
In truth, then, Salinger had lost control of Holden—not through trials or theft or carelessness but through technology—though in a deeper sense, more vital than courtroom proceedings or sterile laws, he had never truly possessed Holden Caulfield at all. His character was not a commodity to be bartered. Holden had long ago meshed with the lives of readers. He belonged to the rebel who admired him, the outcast who drew strength from him, the young girl enamored of him. And it was their affection for his character that provoked resentment against any author who refused to understand that Holden was their property, uniquely re-created each time a reader opened a copy of The Catcher in the Rye.
• • •
The classic film Field of Dreams has a famous scene in which the actor James Earl Jones enters an overgrown cornfield that holds spirits of the dead. Understanding that he is about to emerge into another realm, Jones’s character is unafraid. He is instead smiling with childlike expectation. The original book version of the scene is contained in the 1982 novel Shoeless Joe by the Canadian author W. P. Kinsella. In Kinsella’s novel, Jones’s character is actually Salinger, his name changed to Terence Mann in the film. The final chapter of Shoeless Joe is entitled “The Rapture of J. D. Salinger,” and it is Salinger who enters the cornfield to commune with the spirits of the past and of his characters.
After Salinger returned to the familiar comforts of wife and home following hip surgery in spring 2009, his health improved markedly. He and Colleen had, for years, enjoyed near-weekly trips into nearby Hartland, Vermont, to attend communal roast beef dinners held at the congregational church. When Salinger resumed the weekly ritual, continuing to make the trek even into the cold months of winter, he appeared to have mended completely. When his ninety-first birthday arrived on New Year’s Day, his family was convinced that he would be with them for years to come. But as January wore on, his health began to fail. He appeared to be in no pain, but his body was slowly shutting down. In the late hours of Wednesday, January 27, 2010, J. D. Salinger died.
On January 28, Salinger’s agent announced the news. Presenting a statement provided by Salinger’s son, Matthew, on behalf of the family,