The Modern Novel

Biography

J. D. Salinger was born in New York in 1919. His father was an importer. Like his hero, Holden Caulfield, he was expelled from several schools. He attended Valley Forge Military Academy before taking a writing course at Columbia University, after which he published his first short story. He published several other stories, before serving in the army, including being active in the liberation of France. He continued to write while in France but became particularly successful as a short story writer after the war. When The Catcher in the Rye was published, it attracted a lot of criticism for its frank portrayal of rebellion and sexuality. Salinger’s reaction was to retreat into himself. He gradually stopped publishing, his last story being published in 1965. (A planned publication of a novella in 1997 did not materialise.) Apparently he kept on writing but only for his own satisfaction, living in seclusion in Cornish, New Hampshire. He experimented with various religions, including Buddhism, Dianetics and Christian Science. He fought hard for his privacy, successfully suing a British biographer who quoted extensively from his letters, though a former lover sold his letters and she and his daughter published their memoirs. The Catcher in the Rye remains an important influence on American life. Salinger died in 2010.

Books about J. D. Salinger

Paul Alexander: Salinger: A Biography
Ian Hamilton: In Search of JD Salinger
Margaret Salinger: Dream Catcher: A Memoir
Kenneth Slawenski: J.D. Salinger: A Life

Other links

J. D. Salinger
J. D. Salinger
Biography of J. D. Salinger (1919-)
Featured Author: J. D. Salinger
Dead Caulfields (Life and Work of J. D. Salinger
J D Salinger: A glimpse inside the life of a recluse
Salinger, J.D.: *1919
Holden Caulfield’s Goddam War
J. D. Salinger Speaks About His Silence
JD Salinger’s death sparks speculation over unpublished manuscripts
Holden At Fifty”The Catcher in the Rye” and what it spawned
Obituary
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