Instructions: This blog will help you learn more about the life and times of J.D. Salinger, author of the book you are reading, The Catcher in the Rye. You will be reading articles, taking notes, and answering questions along the way. Therefore, you will need paper to take notes, and a Microsoft Word document open to answer questions. These questions should be printed and turned in before the end of the hour.
To Begin: Read the following biography of J.D. Salinger. Take notes on anything you find particularly surprising or important about him.
(Edited bio is a combination of the sources “J.D. Salinger Biography” @ www.biography.com/articles/J.D.-Salinger-9470070 and “J.D. Salinger Biography from the Encyclopedia of World Biography Online @ www.notablebiographies.com)
J.D. Salinger ( 1919 – 2010 )
Born January 1, 1919 in New York City, New York, Jerome David Salinger, despite his slim body of work and reclusive lifestyle, was one of the more influential 2Oth century American writers. His landmark novel, Cather in the Rye, set a new course for literature in post World War II America and his short stories, many of which appeared in The New Yorker, inspired the early careers of writers such as Phillip Roth, John Updike, and Harold Brodkey.
"What really knocks me out is a book that, when you're all done reading it, you wish the author that wrote it was a terrific friend of yours and you could call him up on the phone whenever you felt like it. That doesn't happen much, though." (Holden Caulfield in The Catcher in the Rye)
Salinger was the youngest of two children and only boy born to Sol Salinger, the son of a rabbi who ran a thriving cheese and ham import business, and his Scottish born wife Miriam. At a time when mixed marriages of this sort were looked at with disdain from all corners of society, Miriam's non-Jewish background was so well hidden that it was only after his bar mitzvah at the age of 14 that Salinger learned of his mother's roots.
Despite his apparent intelligence, Salinger, or Sonny as he was known as child, wasn't much of a student and after flunking out of the McBurney School near his home in New York's Upper West Side, was shipped off by his parents to Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania.
After graduating Valle Forge, Salinger returned to home for what proved to be only a year stay at New York University before heading off to Europe, flush with some cash and encouragement from his father to learn another language and bone up on the import business. But Salinger, who spent the bulk of his five months overseas in Vienna, paid closer attention to language than business.
Upon returning home, he made another attempt at college, this time at Ursinus College in Pennsylvania, before coming back to New York and taking night classes at Columbia University. Here he fell in love with Oona O'Neill, wrote her letters almost daily, and was later shocked when she married Charles Chaplin, who was much older than she. But it was also here that Salinger met a professor, Whit Burnett, who would change his life.
Burnett wasn't just a good teacher, he was also the editor of Story magazine, an influential publication that showcased short stories. Burnett, sensing Salinger's talent as a writer, pushed him to write and soon Salinger's work was appearing not just in Story, but in other big-name publications such as Collier's and the Saturday Evening Post.
His career had started to take off, but then, like so many young American men around this time, World War II interrupted his life. Following the attack on Pearl Harbor attack, Salinger was drafted into the army, which he served with from 1942-1944. He was involved in the invasion of Normandy as a part of the infantry. Salinger's comrades considered him very brave, a genuine hero. During the first months in Europe, Salinger managed to write stories and in Paris meet Ernest Hemingway. He was also involved in one of the bloodiest episodes of the war in Hürtgenwald, a useless battle, where he witnessed the horrors of war.
During this time, however, Salinger continued to write, assembling chapters for a new novel whose main character was a deeply unsatisfied young man named Holden Caulfield.
Salinger, however, did not escape the war without some trauma and when it ended, he was hospitalized after suffering a nervous breakdown. The details about Salinger's stay are shrouded in some mystery, but what is clear is that while undergoing care he met a woman named Sylvia, a German and possibly a former Nazi. The two married but their union was a short one, just eight months.
When Salinger returned to New York in 1946 after the war, he quickly set about resuming his life as a writer and soon found his work published in his favorite magazine, The New Yorker. He also continued to push on with the work on his novel. Finally, in 1951 The Catcher in the Rye was published.
Salinger's first novel became immediately a Book-of-the-Month Club selection and won huge international acclaim. It sells still some 250,000 copies annually. Salinger did not do much to help publicity, and asked that his photograph should not be used in connection with the book.
The first reviews of the work were mixed, although most critics considered it brilliant. The story is written in a monologue and in lively slang. The 16-year old restless hero runs away from school during his Christmas break to New York to find himself. He spends an evening going to nightclubs, and generally continues his search for identity. The humor of the novel places it in the tradition of Mark Twain's classical works, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but its world-view is more disillusioned. Holden describes everything as 'phony' and is constantly in search of sincerity. Holden represents the early hero of adolescent angst but full of life.
It is little wonder that The Catcher in the Rye quickly became a favorite among young people; it skillfully demonstrates the adolescent experience with its spirit of rebellion. At various points in history, The Catcher in the Rye has been banned by public libraries, schools, and bookstores due to its presumed profanity (bad language), sexual subject matter, and rejection of traditional American values.
While Salinger's fictional characters have been endlessly analyzed and discussed, the author himself has remained a mystery. Since the publication of The Catcher in the Rye, he has consistently avoided contact with the public, obstructing attempts by those wishing to pry into his personal life. Journalists have assumed, that because he doesn't give interviews, he has something to hide. In 1961 Time Magazine sent a team of reporters to investigate his private life. "I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure," said Salinger in 1974 to a New York Times correspondent.
Two collections of his work, Franny and Zooey and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, all of which had appeared previously in The New Yorker, were published in book form in the early 1960s. In the June 19, 1965 edition of The New Yorker nearly the entire issue was dedicated to a new short story, the 25,000-word "Hapworth 16, 1924". Then, nothing. "Hapworth" was the last Salinger piece ever to be published while he was still alive.
Despite Salinger's best efforts, not all of his life remained private. In 1966, Claire Douglas sued for divorce, reporting that if the relationship continued it "would seriously inure her health and endanger her reason."
Six years later Salinger found himself in another relationship, this time with a college freshman named Joyce Maynard, whose story, "An 18-Year-Old Looks Back on Life" had appeared in The New York Times Magazine and caught the interest of the older writer.
The two lived together in Cornish for 10 months before Salinger kicked her out. In 1998 Maynard wrote about her time with Salinger in a salacious memoir that painted a controlling and obsessive portrait of her former lover. A year later, Maynard auctioned off a series of letters Salinger had written her while they were still together. The letters fetched $156,500. The buyer, a computer programmer, later returned them to Salinger as a gift.
In 2000, Salinger's daughter Margaret wrote an equally negative account of her father that like Maynard's earlier book was met with mixed reviews.
For Salinger other relationships followed his affair with Maynard. For some time he dated the actress Ellen Joyce. Later he married a young nurse named Colleen O'Neill. The two were married up until his death on January 27, 2010 at his home in Cornish.
Despite the lack of published work over the last four decades of his life, Salinger continued to write. Those who knew him said he worked everyday and speculation swirls about the amount of work that he may have finished. One estimate claims that there may be as many as 10 finished novels locked away in his house.
Step Number Two: Answer these questions in your Word document. Be sure to put your name at the top and rewrite the question and its number before each answer. Your answers should be written in complete sentences. Remember, this is a individual project for an individual grade. Please don't talk to your neighbor.
- Where did J.D. Salinger grow up?
- What are three things you found surprising about J.D. Salinger’s life?
- What are three similarities you noticed between Salinger and Holden Caulfield?
- Why was The Catcher in the Rye so popular?
- Why do you think Salinger has chosen to live in near isolation while shunning publicity?
- Do you believe the public has a right to try to contact or visit Salinger?
Step Number Three: On a separate typed sheet, write a letter to J.D. Salinger. This letter should start with “Dear. J.D. Salinger,” and it should end just like a real letter. In the letter, you will express any opinion about him that you wish. The only two rules are that you remember to address your audience authentically, and base all your arguments in fact. In other words, don’t just go off on the man (or praise him) without telling him why. You may talk about the book, its connection with you, or any other opinion you have…as long as it is supported and minimum 1 page double spaced.
P.S. (Final Instructions): When you are finished, print everything and give it to Mr. Krogmeier. The questions are due by the hour, but you can finish the letter for tomorrow.
You may now continue reading The Catcher in the Rye.
You may not disrupt others that are still writing to Mr. Salinger (so don’t talk to your neighbor).
Thank you for visiting, and have a grand day.
