2. Salinger Bio
• Born January 1, 1919 in New York
•
•
Went to Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania
Attended Ursinus College in Pennsylvania
• Professor Whit Burnett - Salinger met Professor Whit Burnett at
Colombia University in New York Burnett inspired Salinger to begin
publishing articles to famous magazines Story, Collier‟s, and Saturday
Evening Post.
Young Salinger
• Served in the army for World War II from 1942-1944 •
Participated in the Normandy Invasion and Battle of the
Bulge during his service
• Married Sylvia Welter in 1946 • Salinger separated with
Welter eight months after their marriage
• Claire Douglas • In 1955, Salinger married Claire
Douglas • Salinger had two children with Douglas:
Margaret (1955) and Matthew (1960)
• Salinger died in 2010 at the age of 91
Old Salinger
3. Major Work
•
The Catcher in the Rye was published on July 16, 1951.
The novel quickly reaches Number 4 on The New York Times
Bestsellers list.
•
Originally published for adults, it has since become popular
with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage angst and
alienation.
•
It has been translated into almost all of the world's major
languages. So far, it has sold more than 120 million copies
worldwide and still regularly tops polls of the most popular
novel of all time.
•
The novel had significant cultural influence, and works
inspired by the novel have been said to form their own genre.
Dr. Sarah Graham assessed works influenced by The Catcher
in the Rye to include the novels Less Than Zero by Bret
Easton Ellis, The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen
Chbosky, A Complicated Kindness by Miriam Toews and
many more.
4. Minor Work
•
Franny and Zooey becomes Number 1 on The New
York Times Bestsellers list.
• The novel consists of his short story "Franny" and
novella Zooey.
• Franny and Zooey, both in their twenties, are the two
youngest members of the Glass family, which was a
frequent focus of Salinger's writings.
• "Franny" takes place in an unnamed college town
during the weekend of "the Yale game" and tells of an
undergraduate who is becoming disenchanted with the
selfishness and inauthenticity she perceives all around
her.
• Zooey, the older brother of Franny, comes to her aid,
offering what he thinks is brotherly love, understanding,
and words of sage advice because she suffers from a
spiritual and existential breakdown
5. • Two years after this literary and financial success gave
him untold freedom and independence, Salinger headed
off to the remote rural town of Cornish, New
Hampshire - and the isolation that characterized the
rest of his life.
• He built himself a separate cabin a quarter of a mile
away in the woods, painted it dark green as
camouflage against possible intruders, and spent most
of the time there working.
• Salinger became increasingly eccentric, drinking his
own urine and sitting in a special device known as an
orgone box, which was supposed to promote health.
• He worked sitting in an old car seat, typing on an
ancient typewriter at a desk made from a plain slab of
wood. He hated being disturbed, even by Margaret.
• in 1963, a silence he explained himself with words that
could be his epitaph: 'I like to write. I love to write.
But I write just for myself and my own pleasure.'
9. Characteristics / Critique
“Told in the voice of its tall, grey-haired hero, Holden
Caulfield, spawned a new genre of fiction that remains
stupendously popular: the first-person narrative of
someone young, neurotic, misunderstood, insecure and
vulnerable. It was an undoubted masterpiece.”
Finally, I finished this book. It's usually not a good thing
when you're relieved once you finish a book but
sometimes I feel that it's different with Salinger books.
They are very much a journey, for the reader and the
characters, in which you and they work through problems.
Of course you're relieved when you find the answers at
the end. And thankfully, Salinger does give answers.
10. Critique
• “In each work, Salinger reveals a new facet of his own
mysterious person.”
• “All works indicate Salinger's apparent quest for
enlightenment or happiness, his efforts to separate
religion from egoism in a society he sees as corrupt,
and his voluntary withdrawal from that society.”
11. Critique
Salinger’s Writing style
The Catcher in the Rye is written in a subjective style from the point of view of its protagonist,
Holden Caulfield, following his exact thought processes. There is flow in the seemingly disjointed
ideas and episodes; for example, as Holden sits in a chair in his dorm, minor events, such as
picking up a book or looking at a table, unfold into discussions about experiences.
Critical reviews agree that the novel accurately reflected the teenage colloquial speech of the time.
**Words and phrases that frequently appear include:
•"Phony": Superficial, hypocritical, and pretentious
•"That killed me": I found that hilarious or astonishing
•"Flit": Homosexual
•"Crumby": Inadequate, insufficient, and/or disappointing
•"Snowing": sweet-talking
•"I got a bang out of that": I found it hilarious or exciting
•"Shoot the bull": Have a conversation containing false elements
