So, JD Salinger – he of Catcher in the Rye fame – has died without repenting of his decision to become a recluse. For 45 years he’s hidden from reporters and photographers, and since 1965 he’s refused to publish any more of his work. Rumours are now circulating that he’s left a raft of books behind. Time will tell.

But who can blame him? Imagine the pressure after you’ve created a masterpiece. How can another book possible live up to expectation – the author’s, never mind the public’s. A lot to be said for quitting while you’re ahead, leaving people thinking you’re unassailable. As in, keep your mouth shut; if you open it people will know how little you know.

But his reclusiveness strikes a chord with me. Especially this week. Writing is a solitary occupation. And letting your own creativity out into the cruel world is daunting. There’s a measure of safety hiding yourself and your work away from outside scrutiny. Why am I feeling this especially this week? I’ve been preparing to go to Manchester on Monday to give a talk about the place of fiction in the future of bioethics and I confess, I’m finding the prospect daunting. Why? Hard to say. After all, it’s all about what I do every day.

First, I guess it’s because, who knows where the goalposts are with fiction? I never had these anxieties talking about my research when I was a university researcher trotting round the globe.

Second, with the creative arts, doing it and talking about it are two different things. A touch of the those-who-can-do, those-who-can’t-teach syndrome, maybe? Or is it to do with how we communicate? It’s been said that writers write because they can’t fully convey what they want to any other way. Including verbally. We spend hours agonising over the minutiae of the written word, but you can never be sure what you say will come out exactly as you intended it. And just how you say something matters hugely – especially to an audience of bioethicists and philosophers. Help!!

Whatever the explanation I’m in sympathy with JD Salinger today.

Maybe the snow that’s started again this week will effectively close all transport to England on Monday …

Tags: bioethics, Catcher in the Rye, JD Salinger