Jerome David Salinger @jeromedavidsalinger-blog - Tumblr Blog

Background information on Jerome David Salinger

Jerome David Salinger known as J.D. Salinger was born in New York in 1919, January 1. Salinger was one of the most influential writers of the 20th century in America. His most famous novel The Catcher in the Rye and his many short stories that were published in the New Yorker, influenced a lot of writers such as Phillip Roth, John Updike and Harold Brodkey.

Salinger was Sol Salinger and Miriam Salinger’s second child. His father had a meet-packing business. He only knew that his mother Miriam was not Jewish on his 14th bar mitzvah.

Salinger was not a good student. He was kicked out of McBurney School in New York and was shipped off by his parents to Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

After graduating from Valley Forge, Salinger went back to New York to go to New York University but only stayed there for a year. After that he went to Vienna as his father told him to study the meet packing business and learn a new language but he only focused on language.

He made another attempt at college after he got back form Vienna. He went to Ursinus College in Pennsylvania. After that he went back to New York and took night classes and there he met Professor Whit Burnett who made an influence on Salinger’s life.

Professor Whit Burnett was the editor of Story magazine. He sensed Salinger’s talent and encouraged him to write. Soon, Salinger’s stories did not only appear in Story magazine but also in other big magazines such as Collier's and the Saturday Evening Post.

When his career just started to take off he was drafted into the army, serving from 1942 to 1944. Salinger was influenced by the second world war and suffered a nervous breakdown. While he was getting care he met a woman named Sylvia from Germany and was married to her for only 8 months. He then married Claire Douglas in 1955 and had a long marriage with her and two children, Margaret and Matthew.

He was working on his novel during the war and now continued his work and writing other works. The catcher in the rye got Salinger huge fame that he decided he does not want anymore. He became one of the most famous reclusive celebrities.

Salinger died of natural causes in 2010, January 27 at his home in New Hampshire.

#j.d. salinger

Timeline of lifetime events

Timeline of important events in the life of the American writer Jerome David Salinger

Jan 1, 1919

The birth of J.D. Salinger

Jerome David Salinger was born in Manhattan in 1919. He was the second and last child of Scotch-Irish mother Miriam Jillich Salinger and Jewish father Sol Salinger.

1932

The beginning of his writing career

His parents enrolled him in Manhattan’s exclusive McBurney School where he began his writing career working as a reporter for the school newspaper.

1934

Salinger leaves McBurney School

At the age of fifteen Salinger transfers to Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania, which he later uses as a model in his novel The Catcher in the Rye.

1936

Salinger enters University

Salinger is a freshman in New York University.

1937

Salinger leaves University

Salinger drops out of New York University and goes to Vienna, Austria, to study the meatpacking business to work with his father.

Feb 1938

The Second World War emerges

Because of the war emerging in Europe Salinger leaves Vienna and goes back to the United States.

1939

Salinger meets Whit Burnett

Salinger goes to Columbia University and takes a writing course with Whit Burnett who encourages him, and becomes his friend and mentor.

Mar 1940

The publication of Salinger’s first story

Salinger publishes his first story, “The Yong Folks,” in Story Magazine.

Dec 1941

The New Yorker accepts one of Salinger’s stories

The New Yorker finally accepts one of Salinger’s stories after several rejections. The story was “Slight Rebellion off Madison,” which got published in 1946 and it included versions of characters from “The Catcher in The Rye.”

1942

Salinger joins the U.S. Army

Salinger gets drafted to the U.S. Army as an interrogator. He forms a friendship with the journalist Ernest Hemingway. Salinger keeps writing during his service in the military taking his typewriter with him in his Jeep. The war left a deep impression on him.

June 6, 1944

D-Day

Salinger participates in the invasion of Normandy, France.

1945

Salinger’s first marriage

Salinger marries a German woman named Sylvia (her last name and personal information are not known). They live together for eight months and their marriage ends in 1947.

1948

“A Perfect Day for Bananafish”

The New Yorker publishes Salinger’s story “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” which is the first to feature a character from the fictional Glass Family. Salinger then signs a contract with the magazine promising to let them the first to know about any of his new stories.”

1949

A film adapts one of Salinger’s stories

"Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut,” a story by J.D. Salinger gets adapted into a film titled “My Foolish Heart,” which gets a lot of criticism. Due to the harsh criticism the film version of his work got, Salinger never authorizes a film version of any of his works again.

July 16, 1951

“The Catcher in the Rye”

Little, Brown and Company publishes Salinger’s story “The Catcher in the Rye,” which grants him fame and success that he does not want anymore. Salinger then becomes one of the most reclusive celebrities.

1952

Salinger becomes interested in religion

Salinger becomes deeply interested in Hinduism after several years of practicing Buddhism and he also becomes interested in Science.

1953

Nine Stories

In the same year Salinger leaves New York City to New Hampshire, a book of short stories gets published with the title “Nine Stories”.

February 17, 1955

Salinger’s second marriage

Salinger marries a student at Radcliffe College named Claire Douglas. He gives her a copy of a story about the character Franny Glass, as a wedding present. The Character is based on her.

Dec 10, 1955

Salinger’s first child is born

Claire Douglas gives birth to Salinger’s first daughter Margaret Salinger.

Feb 13, 1956

Salinger’s second child is born

Matt Salinger, Salinger’s first son and second child is born.

1961

Franny and Zooey

A book titled “Franny and Zooey,” by J.D. Salinger is published. The book has two long stores, one about Franny a character based on his wife and the other is about Zooey her brother.

1963

Salinger’s last book

In 1963 Salinger publishes his last book, which contains two novellas “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters” and “Seymour: An Introduction”.

June 19, 1965

Salinger’s last published work

A short story titled “Hapworth 16, 1924” by J.D. Salinger gets published in The New Yorker.

October 3, 1967

Salinger’s second divorce

After twelve years of marriage Salinger and Douglas get divorce.

1972

Salinger’s love affair with a Yale University freshman

After reading an essay in The New York Times Magazine, published by a Yale University freshman named Joyce Maynard, Salinger 53 starts writing to Joyce Maynard 18, and the two start a love affair.

1986

Salinger sues a critic

After hearing about the critic Ian Hamilton preparation to write a biography about him, Salinger sues him to prevent him for publishing the biography but eventually the biography titled “In Search of J.D. Salinger” gets published in 1988.

1988

Salinger’s third marriage

Salinger marries Colleen O'Neill, his third and current wife.

1998

Joyce Maynard publishes a book about Salinger

Joyce tells all about Salinger and their relationship in her memoir “At Home in the World,” and auctions off the letters she got form Salinger.

2000

Salinger’s daughter publishes a memoir

Margaret Salinger publishes a memoir about what it is like to grow up with Salinger. The memoir titled “Dream Catcher” is very critical of her father Salinger who cut ties with his daughter when he knew that she was writing it. After the memoir got published Salinger’s son also cut ties with his sister.

Jun 2009

Salinger sues a writer

Salinger sues a writer named John David California who wrote an unauthorized sequel to “The Catcher in the Rye” titled “60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye”.

January 27, 2010

Salinger’s death

Salinger dies at the age of 91, in New Hampshire

#timeline #j.d. salinger

The Catcher in The

Summary

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written by the American writer J.D. Salinger in 1951. The novel is about a 16-year-old boy named Holden Caulfield who currently is in psychiatric care and is telling his story. The novel is set around the 1950s; Holden recently got expelled from his school for the third time, because he is careless. Before he leaves he goes to see Mr. Spencer his history teacher, who advises him to live his life according to his rules, but Holden does not pay attention to what Mr. Spencer says. When Holden goes back to his dorm he finds his roommate Ward Stradlater whom he thinks is arrogant. Stradlater asks him to write an English composition for him and tells him about the girl he is going on a date with. The girl is Jane Gallagher, Holden’s friend whom he had a crush on. The composition Holden wrote for Stradlater is about his brother’s baseball mitt. Holden says that his brother died of leukemia and that he broke the windows of the garage out of anger. When Stradlater returns he tells Holden that his composition is poor, so Holden tears the composition. He then asks about his date with Jane and when Stradlater indicates that he had sex with her, Holden gets mad and decides to punch him but Stradlater overpowers him and knocks him out. At that night Holden decides to leave Pencey and go to New York, where he stays at a hotel before going home. When Holden is in New York he decides to stay at Edmond Hotel. He sees other people from his window a couple having sex and a man playing around with women clothes. He then calls a former burlesque stripper who rejects him and so he decides to go to a bar where he meets three women and dances with them. He then goes to a nightclub that he used to go to with his now famous brother. Holden keeps calling people and going to nightclubs until he finally goes back to his hotel. In the elevator of the hotel he is staying in a guy asks him if he wants a prostitute. Holden does not like prostitutes but because he was bored he says yes. The prostitute arrives and Holden then tells her that he does not want to have sex he just wants to talk. She gets mad and asks for more money than what they agreed on. Holden refuses to pay more than what they told him earlier so the prostitute leaves and comes back again with a man who threatens Holden and punches him in the stomach after stealing money from his wallet. Holden then imagines shooting the man and then committing suicide. Holden calls Sally Hayes a friend of his and asks her to go out on a date with him. The date does not go well and Sally ends up crying because Holden told her that she is a “royal pain in the ass.” Holden then calls Carl Luce another friend and meets him at a bar. Carl soon gets annoyed because all Holden talks about is sex. He then advises him to see a psychiatrist. Holden then gets drunk and wander around Central Park. He nearly breaks his sister Phoebe’s record and thinks he will die soon of pneumonia. Thinking that he might die soon he goes to see Phoebe but avoids his parents. When he wakes her up she’s happy to see him but she is worried about him. When he complains about how everyone is a phony Phoebe asks him if he actually likes anything. He claims that he likes a lot of things and tells Phoebe that he wants to be “a catcher in the rye.” He imagines himself looking over children as they play near a cliff and catches them before they fall. When his parents come Holden sneaks to his former English teacher house Mr. Antolini. He talks to Holden about his life and gives him advice. Holden falls asleep on a couch and when he wakes up he finds Mr. Antolini’s hand over his head. He thinks he is a homosexual so he leaves his house. Holden sends a note to his sister to meet him at the American museum of national history to tell her that he is leaving. She gets upset because she wants to go with him but he would not let her. He then takes her to the zoo where she forget that she is upset and he watches her on the carousel while it is raining. Holden cries looking at her and that is how he ends his story. He refuses to talk about what happens next and how he got sick. He says that everyone is worried about his future. He ends the story by saying that he misses the people he said he hated the most throughout the story.

Themes

Alienation

Throughout the novel Holden sees himself as an outsider who is trying to belong to a world he feels that he does not belong to. He uses isolation to show that he is better than everyone else around him. His alienation is his way of protecting himself. He gets his power and problems from his alienation and we can see that when he asks Sally out because he is lonely, but then he insults her because he needs to isolate himself. Also, he misses the connection he had with Jane but does not make any efforts to contact her.

How growth into maturity is painful

The Catcher in the Rye is a bildungsroman novel. A bildungsroman novel is a novel about a young person’s growth into maturity, but the main character of this novel is not the usual bildungsroman novel protagonist. His goal is to avoid maturity. For example his thoughts during his visit to the museum of national history about change and how he fears it and does not like it. He also refuses to admit his fear of adulthood, but he expresses it throughout the novel when he talks about how he does not understand sex.

Symbols

The “catcher in the rye.”

Holden hears the phrase catcher in the rye for the first time when a boy he admires walks on the street and not on the sidewalk, singing a Robert Burns song “Comin’ Thro’ the Rye.” After that when Phoebe asks him if he actually likes anything he tells her that he wants to become a catcher in the rye. He tells her that he imagines kids playing around a cliff and himself catching them before they fall. The actual meaning of the lyrics is two people meeting in a place where there is no one else and having sexual intercourse. Holden wants to catch kids before they fall into the adult world and lose their innocence.

Holden’s hunting hat

The red hunting hat Holden wears is a symbol of his uniqueness and individuality. Holden talks about his hat a lot and how it is different, showing his desire of wanting to be different from everyone else. Holden does not wear the red hunting hat around people he knows and this reflects the major conflict in the novel; his need for isolation against his need for connections.

Style

The writing style of the novel is colloquial and slangy. The reader feels as if a teenager is talking to him and not a skilled adult writer. For example he uses words like “phony” and “corny” to describe people, which are words often used by teenagers.

#thecatcherintherye #The Catcher in the Rye #j.d. salinger

The Laughing Man

Summary

The Laughing Man is a short story by J.D. Salinger. The narrator of the story goes back in time to the summer of 1928, when he was in school participating in an afternoon sports club called “Comanches Club.” The stories the narrator remembers are not of the activities that he has done in the club, but the stories that were told to him by “The Chief.” The stories are about an absurd creature known as the “Laughing Man.” The laughing man was born in China and was abducted by a group of Chinese bandits, who demanded money in exchange for the child. The parents refused to pay, and because of that the bandits put the child’s head in a carpenter’s vice. As a result, the child “grew into manhood with a hairless, pecan-shaped head and a face that featured, instead of a mouth, an enormous oral cavity below the nose,” which whenever he breathed moved in a hideous way. The laughing man’s hideous look scared people and some of them would faint if they looked at his face. The bandits curiously allowed him to hang around their area, but forced him to wear a red poppy-petal mask. The lonely laughing man would sneak to the forest to talk to the animals who did not think that he was ugly and therefor were his only friends. Soon the laughing became a famous criminal that had great mercy and compassion, and was adored by the public. When the bandits realized that he became a great compotator to them, they decided to kill him. One day the bandits went to his room and started stabbing the person underneath the sheet cover thinking that it was the laughing man but when they removed the cover it was the head bandit’s own mother. The laughing man fame increased and one detective named Dufarge from Paris promised to capture the laughing man with his daughter. The laughing man would often leave messages for his pursuers to play with them. The narrator goes back to Comanches Club and says that he and the boys found a picture of a girl and that it was strange. Then, one day they go far away from the park on their bus with the Chief and a girl gets inside the bus. The girl is the same girl from the picture they found and her beauty captivates the narrator. Her name is Mary Hudson. She and the Chief are seeing each other. She asks the Chief to join the game on the baseball field. The Chief is afraid that she will embarrass herself but she plays well and the boys love her. After weeks the Chief continues telling the story of the laughing man while waiting for Mary in front of her place. The laughing man has a best friend named Black Wing who is a timber wolf. Black Wing was captured by detective Dufarge, who in exchange for his freedom wants the laughing man. The laughing man gave himself up and was tied around a tree. Detective Dufarge and his daughter tried to fool the laughing man. The laughing man then took off his mask and the daughter fainted but the detective fired bullets through the laughing man’s body. The narrator goes back the bus and Mary still did not appear yet. The Chief gets mad and drives the bus. At the park, the narrator sees Mary sitting between two women with their babies and tells the Chief. Mary and the Chief walk together without talking or looking at each other. The narrator then wonders if Mary is going to play and decides to ask her himself. Her replay was “Leave me alone.” He sees her crying and the Chief is trying to grab her but she ran away. When they go back to the bus the story of the laughing man continues. Four of the bullets the detective fired hit the laughing man’s stomach. The detective awoke his daughter thinking that the laughing man is dead but he was not. The laughing man gave a laugh and took the bullets out; the detective and his daughter were so shocked they died of a heart attack. The dwarf Omba, one of the laughing man’s friends came to help him but the laughing man was so close to death. He asked about Black Wing and was informed that he was dead. The laughing man released a final scream of sorrow and died. The kids on the bus were so shocked that some of them started crying. The Chief drove everyone to their homes. The narrator on his way to his apartment found a red tissue that reminded him of the poppy-petal mask.

Themes

Storytelling

In the laughing man Salinger uses a story within a story device to show us what is between the lines. He uses this strategy to show that the story the Chief is telling is a representation of all that he is not and wishes to be, which is brave and not shy as he is.

Memory

The narrator does not talk about the present while telling the story of the laughing man. He leaves the present knowledge and only talks about the past and how it was, thus telling the story from a child’s vision.

Love

The Chief’s love for Mary is shown from a distance in the story.

Death

The laughing man dies at the end of the story after getting the news of his best friend’s death, Black Wing.

Symbols

The red, poppy petal mask

When the narrator of the story goes back to his house he finds a red poppy petal mask. He found it after the death of the laughing man and so it symbolizes that the Comanches can no longer hide behind the mask of the laughing man and thus they all lose their innocence by the end of the story.

The laughing man

The laughing man symbolizes the Chief and what he wishes to be. The laughing man is a hero who has a lot of friends and admirers while the Chief is shy and has no friends except his lover.

Death and innocence

When the Chief gets his lover pregnant it represents his loss of innocence and because of that the Chief ends the story of the laughing man with his death.

#thelaughingman #the laughing man #j.d. salinger

A Perfect Day for Bananafish

Summary

A Perfect Day for Bananafish is a short story by J.D. Salinger from his collection Nine Stories. The story begins with Muriel Glass, the wife of Seymour Glass, waiting for her call to her mother to get through to New York. The call finally goes through, and Muriel’s mother is on the phone. Muriel’s mother is very concerned about the mind state of Seymour, who had an unstable mentality after coming form the Second World War, and the safety of her daughter. Seymour recently drove a car into a tree and had done a lot of other alarming acts. The conversation between Muriel and her mother allows the reader to know that Seymour was placed into an Army hospital as a psychiatric patient. The Army made a decision to release Seymour because they no longer think that there is something wrong with him, but Muriel’s mother thinks the opposite. Muriel does not agree with her mother but she promises to call her if anything weird happens. The scene then changes to the beach outside the hotel. Seymour is lying on his back in his bathrobe when a girl he befriended there named Sybil Carpenter approaches him. The girl is fascinated with Seymour Glass name and keeps joking around with him. The two of them go to the ocean together and Seymour tells the little girl about bananafish. Seymour says that they are normal but when they swim into a banana hole, they become fat and cannot go back again and so they die. The little girl Sybli plays along with Seymour and says she has seen a bananafish with six bananas in its mouth. Seymour kisses her foot and tells her that it is time to go back. In the elevator of the hotel Seymour accuses a woman of looking at his feet. She thinks he is crazy. Seymour makes it to his room where Muriel is sleeping on one of the twin beds. He then takes a gun, sits on the other bed, and shoots a bullet through his right temple.

themes

True communication is difficult

Throughout the story everyone is having different conversations but not truly communicating. Muriel and her mother talking on the phone is one example. Muriel is not really paying attention to what her mother is saying and her mother is not listening to her when she is telling her that she is fine. Also Sybil’s mother is not listening to her when she is talking about Seymour Glass and thinks that she is just saying random words. The only true communication in the story is the communication between Seymour and Sybil but it is not on an adult level. Muriel and Seymour do not talk to each other throughout the story. Muriel does not see that her husband is not okay mentally and Seymour does not talk about what is going on inside his mind to his wife. The only successful adult communication in the story is Seymour’s suicide.

The need for innocence

After Seymour’s experience in the war he suffered psychological distress and can only find calmness when talking to innocent children. Seymour likes the world of children because there is only innocence and no greed. He prefers talking to Sybil because she calms him rather than talking to his wife who only cares about class. He kills himself at the end to escape from the adult world.

Symbols

Bananafish

Seymour creates imaginary creatures called bananafish who become too fat from eating bananas and die because they cannot leave the holes. Those creatures represent his struggle to be a part of his society after returning from the war. He has been released too early from the Army hospital and is not getting the psychological care he needs. Muriel and her family live in a world where everything Seymour does is considered weird and strange and his relationship with Sybil the little girl reveals his need for clarity and innocence. He kills himself at the end because he cannot express all the emotions inside him, just like the bananafish die from eating too much banana.

#aperfectdayforbananafish #A Perfect Day for Bananafish #j.d. salinger

My favorite quotes from different J.D. Salinger works

“I am always saying "Glad to've met you" to somebody I'm not at all glad I met. If you want to stay alive, you have to say that stuff, though.” ― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

“I like it when somebody gets excited about something. It's nice.” ― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

“I'm sick of just liking people. I wish to God I could meet somebody I could respect.” ― J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey

“And I can't be running back and fourth forever between grief and high delight.” ― J.D. Salinger, Franny and Zooey

“Make sure you marry someone who laughs at the same things you do.” ― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

“I have scars on my hands from touching certain people…Certain heads, certain colours and textures of human hair leave permanent marks on me.” ― J.D. Salinger, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters & Seymour: An Introduction

Left, J. D. Salinger during WWII writing The Catcher in the Rye. Right, the famous photo in the back of the Catcher in the Rye book that J. D. Salinger had removed.

Sources: Denise Fitzgerald, Lotte Jacobi.

#album #jd salinger #thecatcherintherye

J. D. Salinger and Paul Fitzgerald

Source: Denise Fitzgerald

#album #salinger #fitzgerald #paul

J. D. Salinger in his Jeep after the liberation of Paris.

Source: Denise Fitzgerald

#album #jd salinger #young

Salinger, in his bedroom, after divorcing his second wife the psychologist Claire Douglas , April, 1968

Source: The Story Factory 2010

#album #jd salinger #claire douglas #divorce

“The Four Musketeers,” J. D. Salinger, Jack Altaras, John Keenan, and Paul Fitzgerald.

Source: Denise Fitzgerald.

#album #jd salinger #the four musketeers

On the left J. D. Salinger and his sister Doris, vacationing in Daytona Beach, Florida. On the right J. D. Salinger and William Maxwell’s wife, Emmy in Cornish.

Sources: Katherine Huber, Jean Miller.

#album #jd salinger