First of all, J.D. Salinger is still alive. I've been mourning him since I read Franny and Zooey
in 2006, so this is a little surprising for me, and just goes to show you that not checking Wikipedia about absolutely everything can really impact your life.
Second, I now discover that Salinger published a story which I have never read and cannot get at. Called Hapworth 16, 1924, it's a Seymour Glass story and I am drooling giant puddles on my desk in my desire to read it. It is currently difficult, if not impossible, to find, but rumour has it the story will be re-released in January of 2009, though Salinger has changed his mind on this before and may do so again.
Harper Lee, author of To Kill a Mockingbird, is also alive (I think they mentioned this at the end of Capote, but I guess I missed it). Both Lee and Salinger wrote some of the best fiction ever produced in the English language, then stopped publishing for years and years and years. But they're still here! Lee could still write another To Kill a Mockingbird. Salinger could tell us more about the Family Glass.
I don't know. I'm so used to the frustration of reading dead authors. That two of my favorite authors of all time are still alive makes me feel the world is a very promising place.
