ROBERT HAMILTON, 58, OCEAN HILL-BROWNSVILLE

Have you read Catcher in the Rye?

Yes, I have. But it was a long, long time ago. It’s something about the revolution. It has something to do about spies. It’s about how to survive in a blackout world, off the radar.

This is Catcher in the Rye, right?

Yes and there was some kind of movie. Mel Gibson was a cab driver. I know that with everything that went on there were some kind of twist and turn. Brainwashing, too. Things like that. It was kind of like the Long Kiss Goodnight, but Mel Gibson was supposed to assassinate somebody. There was some kind of a government plot. The Catcher in the Rye–I mean the book itself—had a lot to with the movie’s story. That’s what I remember about it.

Yeah. Did you read the book in school? It’s in a lot of curriculums.

Yes, I read it in high school. Tell me about it.

The book came out in 1951. Both critics and the public loved it. It’s been selling about a quarter of a million copies each year since it came out. The author J.D. Salinger is a total recluse; he hasn’t given an interview since 1980. He’s 90 now, and he’s suing the guy who’s written a sequel to it. He takes the main character and writes about him 60 years after the fact. Salinger says this is his property and the other guy is ripping him off.

I didn’t even know about this. If the story is J.D. Salinger’s, the man should have asked him something about it–especially since he’s 90. Who knows—he could probably use a little piece of change.

Does this lawsuit remind you of anything you’ve encountered in your life?

Well, it reminds of the times families go through with families, especially when it has something to do with properties, bonds, dividends, and stuff like that. Bills. Sometimes you realize you’ve got families that are not really there in term of their loyalties. As family, there’s supposed to be no kind of debate. But with this situation here, they’re not family, but the man should have spoken to the man. He may have been able to interject more material into the story.

So you’re saying they could have worked out some sort of collaboration?

Oh, definitely. I mean, I’m just talking off the top of my head, but with a fellow like that, who’s all of a sudden a recluse, it seems like he did it to set himself up for a comfortable life, and that’s it.

Somebody might say, well, he’s 90-years-old—what the hell is the difference?

The difference is that Salinger has a right.

I just talked to a guy who said if he was J.D. Salinger, he’d go punch the guy right in the mouth and breaks his arms with a baseball bat. Do you think that would be a fair way to go about it, if these two authors lived in the same part of town?

Well, you know, there’s a thing called right and wrong, and there’s a thing called good and evil. Good and evil is tangible. It’s real.

Right.

There is no dispute. Right and wrong is a conception according to each individual creation. Even the tree. The tree might not like you pissing on it, but you don’t think the tree feels it.

This makes sense.

Everyone has an opinion, but as far as taking a bat to the guy, who knows? It depends. Maybe the guy just got a brainstorm and ran off with it. Maybe he wasn’t even cognizant of copyright laws—but he would have had to have been. He did it to make money. Don’t you think if he’d written his sequel and got away with it and then someone else comes up and steals his stuff—don’t you think he’d sue? Yeah. There it is.

Some people say characters like Holden Caulfield have been “woven into the American fabric.” At what point do you think we can take ownership of these things?

I don’t know. If you take one of these characters—let’s say Mickey Mouse—and turn it into something else, Disney will be on your ass! But if you call him Donald Dick, then they can’t say shit. I don’t think.

I don’t think that’s how it works. What’s your favorite book?

Anything about Solomon Kane or Conan the Barbarian. I like the Lord of the Rings. I love the whole saga.

What would you say if I told you I was an up-and-coming author and I wrote another installment of Lord of the Rings? Would you be interested in buying this book?

If you knew anything about Lord of the Rings, [laughs] you’d know that’d be one hell of a feat. You’d have to be an archeologist, an anthropologist, and then you’d have to journey to the middle of the Earth!

Maybe I am those things. Are you judging me based on my appearance?

No. You could be a fairy—I don’t mean it like that.

What do you think the point of this interview is?

I think the point of this interview was that you bought me a vanilla Dutch so I would talk to you.

-PETER MADSEN

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2. WORD ON THE STREET: CATCHER IN THE RYE PT. 1
3. WORD ON THE STREET: CATCHER IN THE RYE PT. 3
4. WORD ON THE STREET: CATCHER IN THE RYE PT. 5
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