As Funny or Die tweeted, there was great irony in the public response to author J.D. Salinger’s death today: “It’s great RIP JD Salinger is trending. It’s the thoughtful & sincere memorial he would’ve wanted from millions of strangers.” Yes, Salinger was a recluse and, despite achieving literary stardom more than half a century ago, he hasn’t printed a book since the early Sixties. Instead, he chose to lock himself away from the world. Personally, I’m not going to tell a dead guy I never met to rest in peace. I already did that with Kurt Vonnegut a couple years ago. Still, I think it’s worth mentioning that Salinger, despite cutting his own career short, produced a literary classic that has affected millions of people across generations. Did you ever meet someone who didn’t rave about Catcher in the Rye? If you have, he or she is the exception to the rule. In that one novel, Salinger related to a wide audience of young, confused, and restless minds. He put perhaps the most complicated period of one’s life in perfect perspective. Reading that book wasn’t a chore like most of high school’s required reading; it was an easy and laid back conversation that you didn’t want to end with someone who understood you. There’s no need to say “RIP J.D. Salinger” because that conversation will never end and Catcher in the Rye will always be around, connecting with more and more young people. In that way, Salinger’s passing today is just a footnote in the life of a writer who achieved the highest literary honor: immortality.