A Slight Look in the Literary Life of J.D. Salinger
Me and my friend were talking about trying to indulge ourselves in the literary world’s trend of adolescent/teen novels and, well, any pulp ‘younger’ than adult novels, our usual read. When we were searching the shelves of the local bookstore, titles which line the YA section only included Twilight, Harry Potter, Eragon and the likes; there are only the books that the world have already known as ‘for younger audiences’. Having asked the saleslady about a ‘novel about teens, but not FOR teens’, the only work that had come to us was ‘The Catcher in the Rye’ by J.D. Salinger, a most-celebrated work I know many of you would be familiar with.
‘The Catcher in the Rye’ tackles adolescent alienation and loss of innocence. Teen action crowds the novel’s lines, yet the book’s configured for the more mature mind. Albeit this, the novel still won popularity over younger audiences. This is the magic of Jerome David Salinger, to produce what is unexpected.
Salinger was born in New York, January 1, 1919. During his first few years in High School, he have greatly exhibited a passion and talent for drama. Unfortunately for the world of drama, his father opposed to this. Fortunately for literature, his father sent him then to a military school wherein his passion for writing grew as he wrote stories under the blankets with only a flashlight to illuminate his imagination.
After dropping out of college a few times, his mind had finally come to order; he joined Whit Burnett’s nightly writing class at the Columbia University. Burnett, unbeknownst to some, used to be the editor of Story, a literary magazine. Surprised that after a semester Salinger had sprung to life completing three good stories, Burnett accepted him in a vignette of Story, The Young Folks. Together, the two laid foundation to the literary genius we had.
Before serving in the World War II, he had gotten the opportunity of publishing one of his stories, A Perfect Day for Bananafish, at The New Yorker magazine. After his long years at WWII, he came back with his breakthrough, one and only novel, The Cathcher in the Rye. He had also collected his stories in anthologies like Nine Sotries and, containing two novellas, Franny and Zooey.
Even after his death on January 27, 2010, he had become an inspiration for writers who might be unsure at their chosen literary paths at first, for, even though he struggled with it, he seeded, watered and grew his passion for the art of writing.
The next time you drop by at the bookstore, why not search for Salinger’s stories?
I first read The Catcher in the Rye when I was about 13, and it’s been my favourite book since 🙂
I’ve read all of his works except the early shorts which are too hard to find.
He’s really great. “The Catcher In The Rye” is the best Young Adult novel I ever read. It practically “killed” me.
And “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” is nothing less than awesome ( You might’ve noticed how if you exclude reading the first part of the story, Seymour sounds utterly normal. Yet when you read it along with the first part, the one about his wife speaking with her mother, Seymour sounds crazy.)
We can’t also forget that Salinger was one of the very few writers who were actually a recluse ( Thomas Pynchon falls into this category too.)and did not merely act of being one.
He showed everyone that you could be immortal with one damn good book.