More than "Catcher in the Rye" as an influence was "Franny and Zooey". It introduced me to the "Jesus Prayer" and the book "The Way of the Pilgrim", an anonymous Russian book. Since my return to Christianity I do pray the "Jesus Prayer", pray a lot, and know the power of prayer. I've written of prayer here. "Franny and Zooey" I read a year or so after I graduated college. "The Way of the Pilgrim" I've read several times, and have given it as a gift. From that book, I learned that prayer and of the "Philokalia", which at that time I had never heard of. I think the impact of "The Way of the Pilgrim" is best summarized by Saint Seraphim of Sarov, "Acquire the spirit of peace, and a thousand souls around you will be saved".
"Catcher in the Rye" I got tired of. It was the favorite book of every English teacher and college lit prof. I read it in junior high, three times in high school and once in college. The only other book that approached that volume of repetitive consumption was "Huckleberry Finn".
I had also read "Raise High the Roof Beam" and "Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction". Those, sad to say, left no impression.
Salinger had a huge impact on literature, and on my literary life, and because, inadvertently, through "Franny and Zooey", my life.
RIP J D Salinger
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