J.D. Salinger

Author profile

born

in Manhattan, New York, The United States

January 01, 1919

died

January 27, 2010

gender

male

genre

Literature & Fiction, Short Stories

influences

Sherwood Anderson, Anton Chekhov, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Gustave Flauber ...more

About this author

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Jerome David Salinger was an American author, best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, as well as his reclusive nature. His last original published work was in 1965; he gave his last interview in 1980. Raised in Manhattan, Salinger began writing short stories while in secondary school, and published several stories in the early 1940s before serving in World War II. In 1948 he published the critically acclaimed story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" in The New Yorker magazine, which became home to much of his subsequent work. In 1951 Salinger released his novel The Catcher in the Rye, an immediate popular success. His depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence in the protagonist Holden Caulfield was influential, espe...more Jerome David Salinger was an American author, best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, as well as his reclusive nature. His last original published work was in 1965; he gave his last interview in 1980. Raised in Manhattan, Salinger began writing short stories while in secondary school, and published several stories in the early 1940s before serving in World War II. In 1948 he published the critically acclaimed story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" in The New Yorker magazine, which became home to much of his subsequent work. In 1951 Salinger released his novel The Catcher in the Rye, an immediate popular success. His depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence in the protagonist Holden Caulfield was influential, especially among adolescent readers. The novel remains widely read and controversial, selling around 250,000 copies a year.

The success of The Catcher in the Rye led to public attention and scrutiny: Salinger became reclusive, publishing new work less frequently. He followed Catcher with a short story collection, Nine Stories (1953), a collection of a novella and a short story, Franny and Zooey (1961), and a collection of two novellas, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). His last published work, a novella entitled "Hapworth 16, 1924", appeared in The New Yorker on June 19, 1965.

Afterward, Salinger struggled with unwanted attention, including a legal battle in the 1980s with biographer Ian Hamilton and the release in the late 1990s of memoirs written by two people close to him: Joyce Maynard, an ex-lover; and Margaret Salinger, his daughter. In 1996, a small publisher announced a deal with Salinger to publish "Hapworth 16, 1924" in book form, but amid the ensuing publicity, the release was indefinitely delayed. He made headlines around the globe in June 2009, after filing a lawsuit against another writer for copyright infringement resulting from that writer's use of one of Salinger's characters from The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger died of natural causes on January 27, 2010, at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire.
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J.D. Salinger's Books

Average rating: 3.80 · 1,282,338 ratings · 30,614 reviews · 37 distinct works · Similar authors

	The Catcher in the Rye 3.76 of 5 stars 3.76 avg rating — 1,094,971 ratings — published 1951 — 267 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Franny and Zooey 3.98 of 5 stars 3.98 avg rating — 90,797 ratings — published 1961 — 78 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Nine Stories 4.19 of 5 stars 4.19 avg rating — 67,493 ratings — published 1953 — 90 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters & Seymour: An Introduction 4.12 of 5 stars 4.12 avg rating — 23,131 ratings — published 1955 — 48 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	A Perfect Day for Bananafish 4.39 of 5 stars 4.39 avg rating — 2,151 ratings — published 1948 — 6 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	جنگل واژگون by J.D. Salinger, بابک تبرایی (Translator), سحر ساعی (Translator) 3.57 of 5 stars 3.57 avg rating — 826 ratings — published 1947 — 3 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	Hapworth 16, 1924 3.75 of 5 stars 3.75 avg rating — 428 ratings — published 1965 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	22 Stories 4.34 of 5 stars 4.34 avg rating — 366 ratings — published 1974 — 5 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	هفته‌ای یه بار آدمو نمی‌کشه by J.D. Salinger, امید نیک‌فرجام (Translator), لیلا نصیری‌ها (Translator) 3.42 of 5 stars 3.42 avg rating — 324 ratings — published 2008 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
	یادداشت‌های شخصیِ یک سرباز by J.D. Salinger, علی شیعه‌علی (Translator) 3.42 of 5 stars 3.42 avg rating — 276 ratings — published 2008 — 2 editions	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars

More books by J.D. Salinger…

Quotes by J.D. Salinger

“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.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

tags: authors, books, literature, reading, writing

8,972 people liked it

“Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.”
― J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye

tags: salinger, stories

2,362 people liked it

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

1,874 people liked it

See all J.D. Salinger's quotes »

Polls

What frequently challenged or banned book for adults should we read in November and December?

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

31 votes, 26.3%

The Dead Zone by Stephen King

26 votes, 22.0%

Lady Chatterley's Lover by D.H. Lawrence

25 votes, 21.2%

The Cider House Rules by John Irving

18 votes, 15.3%

The Book Your Church Doesn't Want You to Read by Tim C. Leedom

18 votes, 15.3%

118 total votes

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