Author of 'The Catcher in the Rye' Dies

The man who brought the world Holden Caulfield, the rambunctiously outspoken and comedic protagonist in the literary classic A Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger, has died. He was 91.

Salinger died of natural causes at his home on Wednesday, the author's son said in a statement from Salinger's literary representative.

He had lived for decades in self-inflicted isolation in a small, remote house in Cornish, N.H. Because of this, many people felt like although they knew of his works, they hardly knew him at all.

Born Jerome David Salinger on January 1, 1919 in New York City, he was raised with a privileged childhood on Park Avenue.

He began writing about Caulfield early in his literary career, submitting short stories based on the character to various magazines and newspapers.

The finished product became a cultural and literary phenomenon; both praised and banned all over the world, the book is still read today and taught in schools worldwide. It has been said that this is the book that influenced Mark David Chapman to shoot and kill John Lennon.

As Salinger’s popularity grew, he became more secluded. He refused to be interviewed, visited or to allow movie rights to Catcher, even to such famed directors as Steven Spielberg.

Salinger became famous for not wanting to be famous. In 1982, he sued a man who allegedly tried to sell a fictitious interview with the author to a national magazine – he later dropped the suit. Years later, he sued a man for attempting to publish an unauthorized biography that quoted from his unpublished letters – this reached the Supreme Court and was ruled in the author’s favor.

The author soon disappeared from the public eye, except to write other novels and novellas including, Harold and Zooey and Nine Stories and basically did nothing to promote them.

Salinger was only in the news in the last few decades for what people have written about him. In 1998, author Joyce Maynard portrayed him as a control freak with eccentric eating habits and as a poor lover. in 2000, his daughter Margaret wrote a book about him, painting her father as a mean and unpleasant recluse who spoke in tongues and drank his own urine.

The author is survived by his two children, Margaret and Matthew.