J. D. Salinger

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Jerome David Salinger (born January 1, 1919) is an American author best known for The Catcher in the Rye, a classic coming-of-age story that has enjoyed enduring popularity since its publication in 1951. A major theme in Salinger's work is the agile and powerful mind of disturbed young men, and the redemptive capacity of children in the lives of such men.

File:Jd salinger.jpg
Cover of Salinger's daughter's memoir.

Life

Becoming a writer

Born in New York City, J. D. Salinger began his career writing short stories for magazines in New York. They were quite successful; A Perfect Day for Bananafish stands out as the most popular of his early works. He also published two episodes of what would become The Catcher in the Rye: I'm Crazy and Slight Rebellion Off Madison. He attended Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania, upon which Pencey Prep in The Catcher in the Rye is based.

He served in the Army during World War II, where he saw combat action with the U.S. 4th Infantry Division in some of the fiercest fighting of the war. This perhaps scarred him emotionally (he was hospitialized for combat stress reaction), and it is likely that he drew upon his wartime experiences in several stories, such as For Esmé with Love and Squalor, which is narrated by a traumatized soldier.

While attending Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, Salinger was called "the worst English student in the history of the College" by one of his professors. Many years after his success with Catcher he wrote a letter to Ursinus asking consideration for a relative of his for admittance to the College. That hand-signed letter still hangs in the Admissions Office.

The dorm that he resided in still exists today and can be visited by prospective and current students. Ursinus does not openly brag about Salinger's time there but will not shy away from questions during a campus tour.

The Catcher in the Rye, his first and most famous novel, was published in 1951 and was originally unpopular with critics, but later gained admiration from readers and critics alike. The book is narrated by the rebellious, immature, but insightful teenager Holden Caulfield. Although never confirmed by Salinger himself, several of the events in the novel are semi-autobiographical. A novel driven by the nuanced, intricate character of Holden, the plot is quite simple and straightforward. The book became famous for Salinger's extensive and exceptional eye for subtle complexity, detail, and description, and for the depressing and desperate atmosphere of New York City. The novel was banned in some countries because of its bold and offensive use of language; "goddam" appears at least every other page. The book is still widely read, particularly in the United States, where it is considered an especially authoritative depiction of teenage angst.

Salinger later published Franny and Zooey (1961) and Raise High the Roof-Beam, Carpenters and Seymour -- An Introduction, the latter two appearing together in 1963) as well as other short stories (collected in the book Nine Stories).

Seclusion

After the notoriety of The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger became a recluse. This event was triggered by the publicity generated from an interview he did with a local high school student from Cornish in 1953. According to Ian Hamilton this event left Salinger feeling betrayed. He moved from New York to Cornish, New Hampshire where he continued to write novels but did not publish them.

Salinger tried to escape public exposure and attention as much as possible ("A writer's feelings of anonymity-obscurity are the second most valuable property on loan to him", he wrote). But he constantly struggled with the unwanted attention he got as a cult figure. On learning of British writer Ian Hamilton's intention to publish J. D. Salinger: A Writing Life, a biography including letters Salinger had written to other authors and friends, Salinger sued to stop the book's publication. The book was finally published with the letters' contents paraphrased; the court ruled that though a person may own a letter physically, the language within it belongs to the author.

An unintended result of the lawsuit was that many details of Salinger's private life, including that he had written two novels and many stories but left them unpublished, became public in the form of court transcripts.

He has been a life long student of Advaita Vedanta Hinduism. This has been described at length by Sam P. Ranchan in his book An Adventure in Vedanta: J.D. Salinger's the Glass Family (1990). His daughter said in 2000 that he at one time pursued Scientology. [1]

To the surprise of many, Salinger's publisher announced that his previously uncollected novella Hapworth 16, 1924 would be published in 1997, and listings for it appeared on Amazon.com and other book-sellers. However, the date was pushed back a number of times, and finally cancelled a few years later.

In 2000, his daughter, Margaret Salinger, by his second wife Claire Douglas, published Dream Catcher: A Memoir. In her "tell-all" book, Ms. Salinger stated that her father drank his own urine, spoke in tongues, rarely had sex with her mother, kept her "a virtual prisoner" and refused to allow her to see friends or relatives.

He is the father of actor Matt Salinger, who starred in a low-budget version of Captain America, among others. Salinger himself refuses to be involved with film, though. He has not licensed any of his stories or novels other than Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut (released as My Foolish Heart), which he reportedly detested. Assuming that Salinger refuses to allow his works to be adapted to film in his lifetime, his major works Catcher in the Rye and Franny and Zooey will likely never be adapted until 2046 and 2056 respectively, when they enter public domain.

A year-long affair in 1972 with eighteen-year old aspiring writer Joyce Maynard also became the source of controversy when she put his letters to her up for auction. Software developer Peter Norton bought the letters for $156,000 and announced his intention to return them to Salinger.

In 2002, more than 80 letters from writers, critics and fans to Mr. Salinger were published in the book Letters to J. D. Salinger, edited by Chris Kubica.

Influences

Salinger is a character in the novel Shoeless Joe, which was the basis for the movie Field of Dreams. In the movie, the character (played by James Earl Jones) is renamed and fictionalized.

In the movie Finding Forrester (2000) the character played by Sean Connery was based on Salinger.

The French rock band Indochine released a song called Des fleurs pour Salinger (Flowers for Salinger).

Works

The top level of the outline provides the dates the books were published, and the lower level provides the dates the individual stories were originally published. Uncollected stories are provided at the bottom.

Many of his stories involved the Glass Family or Holden Caulfield. These are indicated below.

Published and collected

Published and uncollected

See [2]

Unpublished and uncollected

At Princeton Library

See [5][6]


At University of Texas at Austin

  • Paula (1942)
  • Birthday Boy (1947)

See [7][8]

Wikiquote has quotations related to J. D. Salinger.
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