Dad didn't see the world in black and white, he was open whenever people surprised him, that people you might think were idiots did things that caused you to see them in a different light, and vice versa: he always said that there were authorities who seemed to have all the answers and had committed horrific acts. He saw human beings as fallible. err But this is juxtaposed with moments of beauty, compassion, generosity", explains Matt Salinger to the press gathered to present the re-edition of the case with the complete works of his father in paperback at Alianza Editorial. Less than a thousand pages presided over by The Watcher in the Rye and the myth of J.D. Salinger (1919-2010), the writer who withdrew with his family from the bustle of the world, became inaccessible and did not publish anything for half a century. But he never stopped writing, material that will appear in a few years and which Matt believes will surprise.
Regarding the book that his sister Margaret published two decades ago, in which he described the father's terrible control over his mother, Matt has a very different view: "To know him as a father you can look at the characters as children in their stories. The sensitivity with which he writes about them, the respect and autonomy he gives them. I am the beneficiary of that vision. He never spoke to me like a superior, nor did he simplify what he was explaining to me. He was a wonderful father, full of humor. My sister had a different experience. I don't recognize the family he's talking about, but his experience is just as valid." And he points out that "many teenagers when they leave school play baseball with their parents. I did, but I could also talk about the non-duality in Dante's work".
He remembers that his father "made the decision to move away from the city at a time when many of the writers who were in New York were in bars, restaurants, playing poker. He was very interested in spiritual development. He liked the silence, the countryside, which allowed him to concentrate, and there he wanted to raise a family and write." And he recalls that "he taught my sister and me not to be afraid, but distrustful, of groups. He told us that more than two was already a crowd. That dealing with an individual can bring out the best in their humanity. With groups, not so much".
He also talks about his pivotal experience in the Second World War: "He said that what he saw in the war only confirmed what he already believed about human beings. I already suspected the atrocities he is capable of, the moral failure when you find yourself in certain situations. But I think it is not possible to live all this without it changing you. He was in one of the first regiments that liberated concentration camps. All this made him value beauty and love even more. And it led him to the conclusion that he did not want to devote himself to superficial stories”.
He points out that he wrote "for his private reader, a lonely person, misunderstood, who feels a certain unhappiness, is not sure where to go. As Antolini tells Holden, find other people who feel the same way you do and you might learn something. The sense of community was very important to him." And he reveals that he is "working hard on the texts he left behind." He asked me to publish everything, even the warts, the ugliness. But there is more beauty than warts. It's sixty years of work. We will meet many Salingers, but all in the same line, he continued in his search for important values, art, beauty, kindness, although there will be surprises, many".
