In this era of self-promotion when even Philip Roth grants interviews and almost every lesser author dreams of appearing on Oprah, it's almost hard to believe that author's once bolstered their fame by becoming recluses.
Thomas Pynchon has mastered this disappearing act but even his effort pales before that J.D. Salinger. For almost five decades we've heard barely a peep from "The Catcher in the Rye" author, except for sporadic legal efforts to force others to leave him alone. As Salinger nears his 90th birthday, Charles McGrath of the New York Times offers this compelling appreciation of the great Invisible Man of American letters.
