"There are references to Salinger everywhere. Look at 'Magnolia' or the Kevin Smith movies," says Chris Kubica, editor of "Letters to J.D. Salinger," released this week by University of Wisconsin Press. Commemorating the fiftieth anniversary of "Catcher in the Rye," the book features letters from major authors, students, Net surfers and more. Edited by Kubica--a northern Indiana resident who runs jdsalinger.com--the book is more about Salinger than for him. "We don't expect Salinger to read this," he says.

Kubica says the book tries to understand Salinger and his work by presenting a community of readers responding honestly. "In Salinger's books correspondences play a really large role," Kubica explains. "We've got a lot of letters upholding the mystique, or trying to make some small connection to the man and his writing. But a lot of the letters are painting a portrait of him as a more human, non-godlike figure." And the chance to write, in at least some fashion, to the elusive Salinger--who published his last story in The New Yorker in 1965--was enough to pull in top-name contributors like Tom Robbins, "Paris Review" editor George Plimpton, and Chicago novelists Don De Grazia and Cris Mazza. And while those letters tend to take a more literary tack, the Website posting section offers a different point of view.

"Responses varied from mildly curious to very angry and confrontational, like 'You wrote these books and then disappeared, and that pisses me off because you owe us,'" Kubica says. Take the letter from Adam Klinker: "You know what Mr. Salinger? Thanks for nothing. You just go about your little, tepid business of writing and burning and leave the rest of us to live this life. ... What you have done with your life now is a tragedy, and I wish that I had never read any of your work, because I know it is only emptiness."

"It's an interesting question," Kubica says. "Why do we expect what we expect from our literary figures? People have been asking Harper Lee for years to write a sequel to 'To Kill a Mockingbird,' but she's consistently said that 'Mockingbird was all she had to say." Of course, even if Salinger never has anything else to say, his fans will probably keep busy: "Dear J.D. Salinger, My upstairs bathtub seems to be draining poorly. I was wondering if you have any ideas on how to get it unclogged. Thanks in advance. --Kernsy S. Byron. P.S. We know you have been peeking at these letters."

Also by Rick Rucker

OBJECT LESSONS
While many artists work to create art that lasts, as Todd Slaughter preps his new exhibit, it seems a good portion of his efforts will simply... dissolve.
(2002-04-04)

THE N-BOMB
We've just heard a flurry of anecdotes and interpretations revolving around "the N word" and its various usages, ranging from murderous to encouraging. When Randall Kennedy, professor of law at Harvard and author of the new book "Nigger: The Strange Career of a Troublesome Word," finally opens his lecture to questions, a young black scholar immediately stands. Reading a pre-drafted speech, he delivers a vitriolic denunciation.
(2002-02-21)

NONFICTION REVIEW
Jazzman Lester Young embodied the style of the swing era through clothes, drugs and lingo. Additionally, according to professor and writer Douglas Henry Daniels, he may have been responsible for phrases like "you dig?" and the generation, culture and continent spanning "cool."
(2002-02-14)