J. D. Salinger
Jerome David Salinger (born January 1, 1919) is an
American author best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, as well as
his reclusive nature; he has not published any new work since 1965 and has not
granted a formal interview since 1980.
Raised in Manhattan, New York, Salinger began writing short stories while in
secondary school, and published his first short story in 1940. After serving in
World War II, he returned to New York, and in 1948 published the
critically-acclaimed short story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" in The New
Yorker magazine, where he would publish much of his subsequent work. In 1951,
Salinger released his first novel, The Catcher in the Rye, which was an
immediate popular success. Salinger’s depiction of adolescent alienation and
loss of innocence in the character of protagonist Holden Caulfield was
incredibly influential, especially among adolescents; in 1961, Time magazine
wrote that "Salinger....has spoken with more magic, particularly to the young,
than any other U.S. writer since World War II." The novel remains
widely-read, selling about 250,000 copies a year as of 2004.
The success of The Catcher in the Rye led to increased public scrutiny and
Salinger became reclusive, publishing new work less frequently. He followed up
Catcher with three collections of short stories, Nine Stories (1953), Franny and
Zooey (1961), and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An
Introduction (1963). His last published piece of writing, a novella titled
"Hapworth 16, 1924," appeared in The New Yorker in 1965.
In the intervening years, Salinger struggled with unwanted attention, including
a legal battle in the 1980s with biographer Ian Hamilton and the release in the
late 1990s of memoirs written by two former confidantes: Joyce Maynard, an
ex-lover, and Margaret Salinger, his daughter. In 1997, there was a flurry of
excitement when a small publisher announced a deal with Salinger to publish
"Hapworth 16, 1924" in book form, but amid the ensuing publicity, Salinger
withdrew from the arrangement.