Salinger works. Biography of Jerome David Salinger. Falling in love with underage girls

J. D. Salinger was born and raised in the fashionable area of ​​New York - in Manhattan. His father, Jewish by nationality, was a prosperous merchant of kosher cheese, his mother had Scotch-Irish roots. Jerome's childhood name was Sonny. The Salinger family had the most beautiful apartment on Park Avenue. After several years of study at preparatory schools Jerome attended Valley Forge Military Academy (1934-1936). Friends at the academy later recalled that he was a caustic and witty man. In 1937, at the age of 18, Salinger spent five months in Europe. From 1937 to 1938 he studied at Ursinus College, and then at New York University. She falls in love with Oona O'Neill and writes letters to her every day, later, to Salinger's considerable surprise, she married Charlie Chaplin, who was much older than her.

In 1939, Salinger studied short story writing at Columbia University with Whitt Burnett, founder and editor of Story Magazine. During the Second World War, Salinger was drafted and served in the infantry, participated in the Normandy operation, his comrades said that he was very brave, a real hero. In the very first months spent in Europe, Salinger manages to write several stories and meet Ernest Hemingway in Paris. He also took part in one of the bloodiest episodes of the Hürtgenwald war, a futile battle where he witnessed the horrors of war.

In his famous short story "Dear Esmé - With Love and Squalor" ("For Esmé - With Love and Squalor"), Salinger portrayed a weary American soldier. He begins a correspondence with a thirteen-year-old British girl who helps him regain his interest in life. According to Salinger biographer Ian Hamilton, the writer himself was hospitalized due to stress. After serving as an army signalman and counterintelligence officer from 1942 to 1946, he devoted himself to writing. He played poker with other aspiring writers and was known for being gloomy in character but winning all the time. Salinger regarded Hemingway and Steinbeck as second-rate writers, but praised Melville. In 1945 Salinger married a French woman named Sylvia, she was a doctor. They were later divorced, and in 1955 Salinger married Claire Douglas, daughter of the British art historian Robert Langton Douglas. The marriage broke up in 1967, when Salinger delved into his inner world and Zen Buddhism.

Salinger's early stories appeared in publications such as Story, where his first story was published in 1940, The Saturday Evening Post, and Esquire, and then The New Yorker, which published almost all of his later stories. texts. In 1948, "A Perfect Day For Bananafish" appeared, about Seymour Glass committing suicide. This is the earliest mention of the Glass family, stories about which would become the mainstay of his writing. The Glass cycle continued in the collections Franny and Zooey (1961), Raise the Rafters, Carpenters (1963), and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). Several stories are told from the point of view of Buddy Glass. "Hapworth's 16th Day 1924" is written in the form of a letter from a summer camp, in which seven-year-old Seymour portrays himself and his younger brother Buddy. “So, when I look back and listen to those five or six most original old American poets—maybe more—and also read the many talented eccentric poets and—especially lately—those able, new-found stylists who I am almost completely convinced that we had only three or four almost absolutely irreplaceable poets and that, in my opinion, Simor will certainly be numbered among them.(“Cimor: Introduction”, translated by R. Wright-Kovaleva).

Twenty stories published in the Colliers Saturday Evening Post, Esquire, Good Housekeeping, Cosmopolitan, and The New Yorker between 1941 and 1948 appeared in the 1974 pirated two-volume edition of J. .D. Salinger". Many of them reflect Salinger's army service. Subsequently, the writer experienced an Indo-Buddhist influence. He became a passionate follower of The Teachings of Sri Ramakrishna, a book on Hindu mysticism, which was translated into English language Swami Nihilananda and Joseph Campbell.

Salinger's first novel, The Catcher in the Rye, was immediately selected by the Book of the Month Club and gained immense international fame. It sold 250,000 copies annually. Salinger did not try to help the publicity, and stated that his photographs should not be used in connection with the book. He later turned down requests for a film adaptation of the book.

Initial reviews for the work were mixed, although most critics considered the novel to be brilliant. Its title is taken from a line by Robert Burns misquoted by protagonist Holden Caulfield, seeing himself as a "catcher in the rye" who must keep all the children in the world from falling off some cliffs of madness. The work is written as a monologue, in living slang. The 16-year-old troubled hero - as Salinger was in his youth - runs away from school during the Christmas holidays to New York, finds himself and loses his virginity. He spends the evening going to night club, unsuccessfully meets with a prostitute, and the next day meets an old girlfriend. Then he gets drunk and sneaks home drunk. Holden's former teacher harasses him. Holden meets with his sister to tell her about the runaway and the breakdown. The novel's humor is similar to Mark Twain's classics The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, but its worldview is more disappointing. Holden describes everything as "fake" and is constantly on the lookout for sincerity. He is one of the first characters to embody teenage existential fear, but full of life, he is in many ways the literary opposite of the young Werther, the hero of Goethe.

Rumors circulated from time to time that Salinger would publish another novel, or that he was being published under a pseudonym, perhaps as Thomas Pynchon. “A real artist, I noticed, will endure everything. (Even praise, as I eagerly hope)”,” Salinger wrote in Simur: An Introduction. Since the late 60s, he has avoided publicity. Journalists assumed that since he did not give interviews, he had something to hide. In 1961, Time magazine sent a team of journalists to investigate his private life. “I like to write. I love to write. But I only write for myself and for my own pleasure,” Salinger said in a 1974 interview with The New York Times. However, according to Joyce Maynard, who has been close to the author for a long time since the 1970s, Salinger still writes, but does not allow anyone to see the work. Maynard was eighteen years old when she received a letter from the author, and after an intense correspondence she moved in with him.

Ian Hamilton's disapproved biography of Salinger was rewritten because he disagreed with the extensive quoting of his personal letters. A new version, “Looking for J.D. Salinger”, appeared in 1988. In 1992, a fire broke out in Salinger's home in the Corniche, but he managed to escape reporters who saw an opportunity to interview him. Since the late 80s, Salinger has been married to Colleen O'Neill. Maynard's story about her relationship with Salinger, "At Home in the World", appeared in October 1998. Salinger broke his silence through his lawyers in 2009, when they began legal action to stop publishing an unauthorized sequel to Caulfield's story, entitled Sixty Years Later: Wading Through the Rye, released in the UK under the pseudonym John David California. books.

About “The Catcher In the Rye”
part 2 , part 3
Story about the book (in English).

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Biography, life story of Jerome David Salinger

Jerome David Salinger is an American-born writer.

Childhood, family

Jerome was born on January 1, 1919 in New York in the family of Solomon Salinger, a Jew of Lithuanian origin. My father sold kosher smoked meats and cheeses. Mother's name was Miriam Salinger. She was born into a Scotch-Irish family. Solomon and Miriam had another child - a daughter, Doris, who was born eight years earlier than Jerome.

Early years and education

Solomon Salinger early years Jerome dreamed that his son received a decent education. In 1936, at the insistence of his father, Jerome graduated from a military school in the city of Valley Forge (Pennsylvania). In the summer of 1937, the young man began attending lectures at New York University, after which he left for a year with his father in Austria and Poland (in Poland, Solomon forced Jerome to study sausage production, hoping one day to transfer his business to his offspring).

In 1938, Jerome Salinger returned to his native land and briefly attended lectures at Ursinus College. In 1939, the young man entered Columbia University. With particular pleasure he attended the lectures of Mr. Burnett, editor of the magazine Story. Anyway, Jerome couldn't finish any of the educational institutions which terribly angered his father. As a result, Solomon and Jerome terribly quarreled and stopped communicating.

Army

In 1942, Jerome Salinger was drafted into the army. He graduated from the officer-sergeant school of the signal troops and received the rank of sergeant. In 1943, Salinger was transferred to counterintelligence and sent to Nashville, Tennessee. On June 6, 1944, Jerome took part in the landing of amphibious troops in Normandy. During his service, he managed to work with prisoners of war, and also, together with his associates, freed several concentration camps.

Creation

As a young man, Jerome Salinger began publishing short stories in New York magazines. In 1948, his story "The banana fish is well caught" brought him his first fame. Critics praised Salinger's talent, his ability to emphasize the most important things and his excellent command of the language.

CONTINUED BELOW

After the first success, Jerome published several more of his stories, after which, in 1951, his first and only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, was published. The plot of the novel is based on the story of a seventeen-year-old boy, Holden, about his short life. Holden in a very frank form, not embarrassed in expressions, tells the reader about his perception of American reality, about his struggle with the generally accepted rules of morality, about his thoughts and experiences. Initially, the novel was intended for adults, but it gained particular popularity among the youth of those years. The book made a real revolution in the minds of people and had a huge impact on the world culture of the last century. At first, the scandalous content of the novel caused considerable discontent among the censors. The book was banned in several US states and in several countries for excessive depressiveness and profanity, which the author simply pours into the novel. However, over time, the ban was lifted and The Catcher in the Rye was even included in the list of literature recommended for American schoolchildren to read. In the USSR, Salinger's novel appeared only ten years after his birth - Salinger's work was published in the journal Foreign Literature, translated by Rita Yakovlevna Rait-Kovaleva.

Throughout his life, Jerome David Salinger wrote thirty-nine works, of which four remained unpublished (Baby Train (1944), Two Lonely Men (1944), The Birthday Boy (1946) and Ocean Full of Balloons for bowling "(1947)).

The unique style of Jerome Salinger

In almost all of Salinger's works, the main characters are children and adolescents under the age of fifteen. However, Jerome cannot be called a children's writer. In the lines written by this brilliant master of the word, one can easily trace the theme of opposing the norms and laws invented by people, opposing the mean world, which does not give a single chance for another life, except for the one that he [the world] has prepared.

In most of Salenger's stories, the main characters are members of the Glass family (they appear in Banana Fish Are Good, Seymour: An Introduction, Franny and Zooey, and other works). Through these characters, Jerome reveals the theme of confrontation between a person endowed with talent and the outside world, cruel and merciless.

retreat

After the resounding success of The Catcher in the Rye, Jerome Salenger went into hiding and began to lead the life of a real recluse. He refused to communicate with the press and did not give any interviews. In 1965, Salenger stopped publishing his editions. He imposed a strict ban on the reprinting of his early works, written before 1948, several times suppressed attempts by publishers to publish his letters. Jerome wanted to get away from this vile world once and for all. To do this, he even moved to the small town of Cornish (New Hampshire) and began to live in a house surrounded by a high fence. Being away from the outside world, from crowds of people, Salinger became interested in Buddhism, Hinduism, yoga, Dianetics and macrobiotics. Sometimes he set small experiments on himself - for example, he could eat only raw vegetables for a whole week, then for several days he could eat only meat. Jerome considered his own urine a panacea and drank it for any manifestations of health problems.

Personal life

After the war, Jerome worked for some time as an employee of the American counterintelligence. Salinger was perfect for this position, as he hated Nazism and everything connected with it with all his heart. Once he arrested a girl named Sylvia, who was a member of the Nazi Party. Paradoxically, but Sylvia became the wife of Jerome. True, their marriage was very short-lived. Ultimately, Sylvia's hatred of the Jews and Jerome's hatred of the Nazis won over the love and tenderness between the spouses.

In 1950, Jerome Salinger met sixteen-year-old Claire Douglas, a girl from a highly respected British family. Jerome and Claire got married before the latter had even graduated from high school. Salinger took Claire to his own home in the Corniche. The house was in a terrible state - there was neither normal heating nor water supply. However, Jerome forced his underage wife to cook delicious meals for him every day and demanded to change bed linen twice a week. A few years later, Claire realized that she was pregnant. Jerome did not want to have children, but did not do anything. He only began to treat the unfortunate girl even worse than before. At one point, Claire even began to think about suicide, but changed her mind in time. In 1995, Claire gave birth to a girl. Salinger wanted to name his daughter Phoebe after one of the characters in his story, Holden's sister, but Claire insisted that the baby be named Margaret. A little later, another child was born in the family - the son of Matthew. Despite the fact that children were unwanted for Jerome Salinger, he was a good father.

In 1985, Jerome and Claire divorced. And at sixty-six, Salenger still had a passion for young girls. His third wife was the young Colin, who was barely sixteen years old. Colleen volunteered to live in the Corniche in her elderly husband's detached cabin.

Death

On January 27, 2010, Jerome David Salinger passed away at his home. At the time of his death, the writer was ninety-one years old.

Throughout the book, Salinger poses questions, bombarding the reader with them in an attempt to stir his thoughts. Ask, answer, leave unanswered - you can do anything with them, the main thing is not to stop, continue to search and fight, grow, in the end.
This novel is primarily about growing up, becoming a new person and finding yourself. We get into the world of the protagonist for 5 days, but this is more than enough. In every day, situations that happen to them, we see a serious struggle, questions and attempts to understand what is characteristic of any person, but especially at the age of Holden Caulfield. I thought about the title of the novel: why “over the abyss”? It seems that rye is such a symbol of childhood, a ball of cotton wool that protects from the anxieties and unrest of the world. But any "field" has its own boundaries, beyond which there is something else, in this case, an abyss. She, in my opinion, acts as a kind of symbol of growing up and, of course, of the unknown. Sooner or later you have to face it, but is it as scary as our subconscious and consciousness draws for itself? Is it necessary to fall into it?
Secondary characters also help to discover the truth: “It seems to me that you are rushing towards some terrible abyss” - and it seems that this is said specifically about growing up. Or, for example: “This is a dangerous abyss. Anyone who falls into it will never feel the bottom. It falls, falls, without end" - what is called "discovering the unknown". The hero, through the prism of other people's words, forms his own understanding of reality: "It seemed to me that I would suddenly fall down, down, down, and they would never see me again." And finally, his final conclusion: “The children play in the evening in a huge field, in rye. And I'm standing on the very edge of the cliff, over the abyss, you understand? And my job is to catch the kids so that they do not fall into the abyss. They play and do not see where they are running, and then I run up and catch them so that they do not break. That's my whole job - to guard the guys over the abyss in the rye. And “guard” is so consonant with the word “save” ... In the end, does the hero want to become an adult? He is on the move, in search of his place and place next to other people in the constant need to make a choice. It's normal when you're only 16 years old...

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I bought this book in Auchan, I accidentally noticed this series of books, I was interested in the compact format of the publication. In the era of electronic publishing, I do not go to bookstores. Therefore, a great idea to post in Auchan, I would never have known about this series. I like the series for the following reasons: 1) Books from this series take up little space at home. 2) A very convenient format for reading on the road - especially on an airplane during takeoff and landing, when electronic devices are asked to be turned off. It's good to have classics in this series - i.e. those books that can be re-read again and again, as, in fact, done. Thanks for this series! I don't see the point in leaving a review for this product. :-)

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It would probably be difficult to come up with a simpler and at the same time suitable title for a collection that brings together completely different stories, each of which can be considered an independent, independent work. But this is only at first glance. What do these stories have in common? First, it is the style and style of JD Salinger. Those who are firsthand familiar with his more famous work, The Catcher in the Rye, will undoubtedly see here the same features of his writing style: literary correctness, grace, and linguistic “purism” are alien to J. D. Salinger’s style. In all these works, a significant place is given to the dialogues of the characters, which are replete with slang expressions, often curses. Thus, the writer recreates a portrait of living modern speech, not very correct and “beautiful”, sometimes incoherent, even strange, but nonetheless close and understandable, as if this conversation was accidentally overheard and recorded on a nearby street, which is very well conveyed and preserved in translation. However, this is just one of the stylistic incarnations of the author, who, if necessary, skillfully uses elements of the game with style, moving from colloquial speech to more bookish, which often serves as one of the ways to characterize the characters (“Dear Esme with love - and vileness”, “Blue Period de Daumier-Smith", "Teddy"). The second connecting thread is the chronological framework and the setting: almost all the stories cover the post-war period of the late 1940s and early 1950s, sometimes retrospectively going a little further to the 1920s, and New York, native the city of J. Salinger himself. Finally, these are the main characters of the short stories - a little strange, eccentric, as if not from this world. And last but not least, the war is to blame for this, which has a devastating effect on the psyche and life of a person (“Banana fish is well caught”, “Dear Esme with love - and vileness”). The images of children appearing in almost all 9 stories are also interesting. They are spontaneous, mischievous, but at the same time observant, sensitive, understanding and capable of sympathy. Often, J. Salinger takes very everyday situations as the basis of the plot, such as a quarrel and jealousy between spouses, disobedience of a child, relations between parents and children. An inexperienced reader will turn the final page of almost every story, being in some kind of bewilderment, because here you will not find either a direct author's assessment, or a conclusion, or a given trajectory of the movement of thought, and even the ending as such: the short story by J. Salinger are as paradoxical as life itself, which, in turn, is made up of such trifles. But this apparent simplicity can just have a stronger effect, forcing us to think about the deeper meaning lurking between the lines, about the complexity, inconsistency of the structure of human nature and the soul. Here one involuntarily recalls the famous “iceberg technique” by E. Hemingway or the multi-faceted and multi-level novels of J. Fowles, in which someone can see only an exciting plot, while others can see a strong intellectual component. So in this collection of stories you can find everything and not find anything. Everything depends on our view of the world, people and things. In this sense, the composition of the collection looks very successful, since the quintessence of the author's philosophical views lies precisely in the last story, or rather, is embodied in the image of a 10-year-old little prodigy Teddy. “Most people don't know how to look at things differently,” says the little hero. To abandon logic, to go beyond the usual and standard framework - this is the way to true knowledge of the world, such as it really is, i.e. without boundaries imposed by our consciousness. This is what the writer wants to achieve from us. He sets out this philosophical theory for us and immediately gives us the opportunity to put it into practice, since the ending of the story remains open (here one can see a clear antithesis with the first story in the collection) both in terms of plot and plot, and in our interpretation of the underlying idea. It is no coincidence that J. Salinger makes a child who, despite his young age, thinks in a completely adult way, but has a more flexible and receptive consciousness and the ability to perceive and evaluate the surrounding reality in a different way, in his own way. It can be assumed that it is this combination of adult sophistication and childish simplicity, openness to the world that is so dear to the author, who seems to call on each of us to keep this child in ourselves if we want to see and find new meanings and values ​​in this life.

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Where do ducks go in Central Park when the pond freezes over?

Holden Confield - Salinger's hero - what did he do wrong that most people do not like him so much, although many people like the book itself, and even very much, and isn't it an echo of the painful book hypocrisy when the book catches, but the characters annoy, and vice versa? I love this book and Caulfield too.
The guy is really smart and smart. Says what he thinks, and mostly it's true. We are annoyed by people who pick pimples in public, or the same girls who go crazy because they suddenly decided to kiss them. Childishly naive, but similar to the truth from Holden, who changed any school because of his quarrelsomeness and runs away to the city during the holidays in order to take a break from everyone and see his beloved sister. He also seems to be falling in love, but is too cowardly to pick up the phone. The mind is one thing, but for the feelings you need courage.
So discouragement and loneliness brings the guy into pubs and taverns, restaurants and even hotels, where he makes trouble, out of inexperience, remaining robbed by some dubious pimp with his escort.
But more he loves walks in the park and the ducks there, which always disappear somewhere. And no one can answer him anything, can you imagine what people think of him?
He still sees his sister. Sneaks home like a thief, remembers his childhood, his brother, who is no longer around, laments about his life. A person does not know where to move, and what he wants from life at the moment. Can he be blamed for this?
What's with the rye? Everyone interprets in their own way. Catcher in the rye? Over the abyss into the unknown, because the field of rye is endless, like the sea itself, who knows what is beyond it.
The book is worth attention and discussion, but there is nothing to criticize it for, you don’t judge a person only by the fact that you didn’t like him at the first meeting? So this book needs no condemnation. Taste and color, right?

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You won me over, Jerry...

It all started with the novel "The Catcher in the Rye", which all the youth stubbornly criticized in different ways, then the reading of "Nine Stories" followed, and soon I came to this book - "Higher the rafters, carpenters. Seymour: Introduction". What to say? Salinger has never disappointed me. Moreover, I fell in love with my work. Of Salinger's published works, the only novels I have not read now are Franny and Zooey. And I diligently delay reading because I want to read much, much more from this author than just two stories. And there is no opportunity to read something else Salinger's. But hopefully there will be more.

This edition is notable for its miniature size, serial design, beautiful cover, thick paper and the content of two stories by Salinger at once, as mentioned above. I was lucky to be the owner of all Salinger in the "Intellectual bestseller (mini)" series.

First, about the story "Above the rafters, carpenters." Easy to read, great story! The story is told from the perspective of one of the heroes of the story - Buddy Glass. The story gives more information about Seymour Glass (whose brother is Buddy), already familiar to many readers from the story of the same Salinger "It's good to catch a banana fish." Personally, I could not wait to learn more about this hero! And Salinger largely satisfied my curiosity with both stories included in this publication.
What is remarkable: after reading the characters, you immediately begin to miss them, you become attached to them. I would like to know what and with whom happened next, how the lives of each hero turned out, even if negatively colored. For example, I’m still even interested in where that deaf-and-dumb old man went from Buddy and Seymour’s apartment ... And if Salinger wrote a separate story about this (well, or just about him, about this old man), I would the work would not be perceived as some kind of spin-off sucked out of the finger, but, on the contrary, would cause genuine joy! "Higher rafters, carpenters" - a philosophical thing, interesting, fascinating ... In a word - magnificent! This is without exaggeration a masterpiece!

Relations with the story "Simore: Introduction" did not develop immediately. Reading seemed painful, the story was read slowly, being somehow boring and viscous. Thoughts crept in that:
1) Perhaps the translator is to blame. I read somewhere that the translation of the Simorovsky cycle by R. Wright-Kovaleva was worse than the translation of "The Catcher in the Rye".
2) ummm... Is that really Salinger?
A terrible thought came to mind: maybe quit reading? But I never allowed myself to do that...
But very soon - somewhere, probably, in the middle - I was so imbued with Buddy Glass! I forgot to say that in this story the narration is conducted on his behalf. But now he's... an older man and a university lecturer. And how, I must say, it becomes a pity! Indeed, behind the boring and inconsistent narration, there is a real drama of a child prodigy, forever deprived of parental attention and a guy who went through the war and subsequently lost his beloved brother - the person who understood him like no other. And now this man - a failed writer who lives a completely boring life, a life of the past, a life of memories of him, of his brother ... - wants to write a book about him, Simor, sharing with everyone the most precious thing he has left in life. ..
Generally a strange thing. First you read through the force, and then mentally beg Buddy not to stop, to continue to pour out his soul. After all, I, the reader, will understand everything! It is also strange that it is generally forgotten at some moments that it is not Buddy Glass who writes this, but the writer Jerome David Salinger. And it's amazing.
In this story, it turns out that it was Buddy Glass who wrote the stories "It's Good to Catch a Banana Fish" and "Teddy", which are included in Salinger's collection Nine Stories. For me, this is a reader shock, to be honest.

I love you Salinger. And your heroes - no less.

There are writers whose life is no less interesting than their work. These include whose biography is full of events. This is a philosophical search for oneself, the study of many sciences, the Second World War, service in intelligence, homecoming and recognition for short stories and the only published novel.

You can make a movie about it. Only now the writer forbade doing this, as well as filming his books. Why this happened, you will learn from our article.

The most mysterious writer of the century

Jerome David Salinger is known not only for his works, but also for his secluded lifestyle, which has given rise to many myths and conjectures around him. At the height of his fame, the author suddenly stops publishing his books. At the same time, he does not stop writing, moreover, he almost completely limits communication with the press and critics. To readers of favor no more, Salinger also stops giving autographs.

There were legends about his voluntary retreat. And in one of the interviews, the American film actor told how one of the tests assigned to him by his beloved girl, whose favor he stubbornly sought, was to get an autograph of this Movie star claims that he managed to get the coveted signature. But many readers and fans of Salinger were not so lucky.

life path

Jerome David Salinger was born on the first day of 1919 in New York (United States of America) to a Jewish family. His father was a merchant, and the family lived quite well. Mother had Scottish and Irish roots. Even at a young age, the writer took his first steps in writing. His stories were short, but even then quite capacious.

In 1936, Salinger (whose biography has many controversial moments) received a diploma from a closed military school. During his studies, he wrote several lines for the anthem of this institution, which are still included in its official version. Further, Salinger was expected to study at New York University and practice in Europe.

On his return, he enters where he listens to lectures on prose and short stories. But David was interested in studying only in such separate courses. He did not graduate from any of the universities and could not make a career. This became a stumbling block with his father, who had high hopes for his son. As a result, after another family scandal, they turned away from each other forever.

World War II in the life of a writer

Salinger, whose biography is permeated with the influence of the Second World War, could not stay away from the ongoing events. He decided that his place was at the front, and fought for a long time for the opportunity to get there, since he was exempted from conscription for health reasons.

In 1943, with the rank of sergeant, the writer enters the counterintelligence department. Being in the hottest spots, Salinger, whose biography will be strewn more than once with memories of the war, will write in his diary, and later in letters to his relatives, that he correctly understood his destiny, and his place is here. He was aware of the correctness and value of his stay in the heat of the war, took part in the liberation of prisoners from concentration camps, was in intelligence, but what he experienced forever wounded him, closed him from others, which resulted later in his reclusive life.

Confession

Returning home, the writer Salinger gains fame as a recognized novelist. His story "It is good to catch a banana fish" is on the lips of all critics and lovers of literature. In the mid-forties, many magazines published his novels and stories. The themes of his works are painful memories of the war, of wounds that cannot heal, of things seen that will never be forgotten.

The recognition of the writer will reach its climax after the publication in 1951 of the novel "The Catcher in the Rye". The genre of the work will be called "novel-education". This creation was sold out in an unprecedented amount - more than 60 million copies.

At the peak of fame and recognition, Salinger suddenly stops publishing his works and closes himself from the world in 1965. He no longer gives interviews and autographs. What justifies such behavior is still a mystery to biographers, and even to many of the writer's acquaintances.

The great novelist died at the age of 91 in his private mansion in New Hampshire.

Creation. Short review

Salinger's work mainly consists of short stories and novels. The only novel written and published by the author is The Catcher in the Rye.

Salinger created stories on a fairly broad topic, which changed along with the writer's worldview. But the main idea is the same - the meaning of life, broken dreams and a philosophical search for oneself. The heroes of most novels are children, teenagers and people in search of the purpose of life. Such images give the writer the most vivid and capacious way to reveal his thoughts and show the reader the results of his philosophical reflections.

The story of the writer deserves attention. In it is a story about a student who taught the guys, while telling them amazing stories about the noble robber - the Man who laughed. Guy John tells with inspiration, because a very beautiful and kind girl Mary helps him. It turns out that she is the daughter of noble and wealthy parents who are against her relationship with a simple student. When Mary nevertheless is forced to part with John, he tells a story in which his hero is defeated, and soon dies himself. The story condemns the social inequality that destroys the lives of the best people.

"Catcher in the rye"

This greatest novel almost immediately found many readers around the world. Nevertheless, critics reacted ambiguously to the work, accusing the writer of depressive motives. For more vivid, subtle characteristics of the characters and everything that happens in the novel, swear words are used, which led to a ban on the release of the work in some states. Now it is included in school programs in literature around the world.

Salinger, whose novels were closed for publication by himself, forbade his work to be filmed when it was discussed in the 80s and 90s. The main argument was that the events of the work take place in the soul of the protagonist, so it is almost impossible to show it the way the author saw and created it.

The novel tells about the boy Holden Caulfield. Nobody understands him, and he himself hardly accepts his surroundings. He grows up, and in this growing up, his dreams and ideals terribly quickly crumble into dust. The novel has such a strange name because Caulfield has a dream in his mind - to catch children over the abyss when they, having played too much, are in danger. This is a rather symbolic association. Most likely, Holden dreams of helping children preserve their childhood in his cheerfulness and openness to a world where dreams have not yet been broken forever. The original title of the novel, The Catcher in the Rye, translates as "Catcher in the Rye".

Quotes and aphorisms

The mysterious writer left us not only the greatest literary heritage, but also many aphorisms. This is because Salinger was a real master of the pen. We will quote the most vivid and recognizable:

• "Because a person died, you can not stop loving him, Especially if he was better than all the living, you know?" - in the voice of his hero of the novel "The Catcher in the Rye" the writer will utter the truth, full of pain and truth.
• And I am fascinated by such books that when you finish reading them to the end, you immediately think: it would be nice if this writer became yours. best friend, and so that you can talk to him. "This is what Holden Caulfield will say, and it's hard not to agree with him.

• "We need to let a person speak out, since he began to talk interestingly and got carried away. I really like it when a person talks with enthusiasm. It's good." These words also belong to Caulfield.
• "An immature person wants to die for his cause, and a mature person wants to live for a just cause."

Finally

To read or not to read is everyone's business. But, staying away from the classics of world literature, you deprive yourself of the pleasure of knowing completely new worlds. Thus, Salinger's stories are completely integral microcosms of his characters. Searches and disappointments, life and real disasters in their souls will not leave you indifferent, enrich your inner world and help you better know yourself.

Years of life: from 01/01/1919 to 01/27/2010

One of the most influential American writers of the 20th century, he is best known as the author of The Catcher in the Rye, which charted a new course in post-war American literature, and stories that inspired writers such as Philip Roth and John Updike.

JD Salinger was born on January 1, 1919 in Manhattan, New York. His father was Saul Salinger (Solomon Salinger) - a Jew, the son of a rabbi, a successful merchant of kosher cheese and ham. His mother was Mary Gillick, a girl of Scotch-Irish descent. After her marriage, Mary not only changed her surname to Salinger, but also changed her name to the Jewish Miriam (the name of Aaron and Moses' older sister) - in those days, mixed marriages were viewed askance and Mary was forced to impersonate a Jewess, which even her son found out already in mature age. Jerome was the second child in the family - his older sister was Doris.

As a child, Jerome attended a public school on the West Side of Manhattan, and after that, a private McBurney School on Park Avenue. Due to his Semitic background at the McBurney School young Salinger experienced some difficulties with adaptation, so he decided not to use his Semitic name David (David) in communication, but was called Jerry. At home, his name was Sonny. At McBurney School, Jerry was the captain of the fencing team, wrote for the school newspaper, studied in the drama club, where his acting talent was actively manifested (in 1930, at the summer camp, he was awarded the title of "Best Artist of the Year"). However, Jerry studied poorly and was eventually expelled from school. After being expelled, his parents placed him at a military school in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, from which he graduated in 1936. Here he writes his first stories. A year later, he listens to lectures at New York University and in the same year he and his father visit Europe (Austria and Poland), from where he returns in 1938. In 1939, he entered Columbia University, where he listened to a lecture course by Story magazine editor Burnett on a short story. However, he never finished university.

Before being drafted into the army, Salinger dated Oona O'Neill, the daughter of playwright Eugene O'Neill, who, after parting with Jerome Salinger, became the wife of Charlie Chaplin, and also worked as an executive director on a cruise ship that sailed to the Caribbean. In 1942, he was drafted into the army, graduated from the officer-sergeant school of the signal troops, and in 1943, with the rank of sergeant, he was transferred to counterintelligence (Nashville, Tennessee). On June 6, 1944, Salinger, as part of the counterintelligence department of the 12th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division, participated in the landing in Normandy, and later participated in the "Battle of the Hurtgen Forest." During the war, he interrogated prisoners of war, took part in the liberation of several concentration camps. During the war, he met Hemingway, with whom he actively corresponded. After the end of the war, he was hospitalized with a nervous breakdown (CSR syndrome ( Combat stress reaction)).

After the war, JD Salinger participated in the German denazification program. One day he arrested a young Nazi named Sylvia Welter and suddenly married her. Together with her in April 1946, he returned to America, but the marriage lasted only 8 months. Jerome's daughter, Margaret Salinger, sees the reason for her father's breakup with Sylvia as follows: She hated the Jews with the same passion with which he hated the Nazis.". Later, for Sylvia, Salinger came up with the contemptuous nickname "saliva" (in English, "saliva" (saliva) is consonant with the name Sylvia).

Salinger's first story, The Young Folks, was published before the war in 1940 in Story magazine, but Salinger's first literary fame came with A Perfect Day for Bananafish in 1948. Until 1951, the young writer had already published 26 works. In 1951, he published his first and only novel, The Catcher in the Rye, which brought him not only worldwide fame, but also material wealth. As a result, he buys land plot with a house on the banks of the Connecticut River in the Corniche, the future residence of a recluse, where he leads a quiet country life and works on the Glass series. In 1953, a separate collection of previously published stories, Nine Stories, was published.

The already successful writer Salinger remarries in 1955. Claire Douglas becomes his wife. They met in 1950. He was 31 years old, she was 16. From his marriage to Claire Douglas, he had two children: Margaret (1955) and Matthew (1960). However, according to Margaret Salinger, this marriage could not have happened if she had not been born, and her father had not read the teachings of Lahiri Mahasaya, the guru of Paramahansa Yogananda, according to which enlightenment was possible if one followed the path of the “father of the family”.

It must be said that religious, mystical, esoteric and other kinds of teachings have always occupied the mind, made up the writer's lifestyle and influenced creativity. In the forties and fifties he studied Zen Buddhism. After he changes direction and is fond of Hinduism and yoga. In the sixties he is absorbed in Dianetics and meets with Ron Hubbard, then he is influenced by Tolstoy's ideas. He tries non-traditional medical practices on himself: macrobiotics, acupuncture, urine therapy and homeopathy, from which, however, he almost died. His daughter spoke of her father's spiritual quest as " throwing love teenager". At the same time, all of the above did not prevent him from coping with the role of a “good father”, although he remained a rather selfish person all his life.

In 1955, the stories "Above the Rafters, Carpenters" were published, in 1959 - "Seamor: An Introduction", in 1961 - "Franny and Zooey", and 1965 - "Hapworth's 16th Day 1924", continuing the story of the Glass family, who appeared in earlier Salinger stories.

"Hapworth's 16th Day 1924" was the last published work of the writer, and since 1965 J. D. Salinger hid from the whole world in a house in the Corniche, where he lived until his death, avoiding communication with journalists. However, during these years he continued to write, make spiritual quests, and also made attempts to arrange a personal life. In 1966, he divorced Claire Douglas, and in 1972 entered into a relatively long relationship with 18-year-old journalist Joyce Maynard. In the first half of the 80s, the writer meets with American actress Elaine Joyce, and in 1988 he marries his nurse Colleen O'Neill, who was 40 years younger than him.

During the years of seclusion, the writer nevertheless gave one interview for The New York Times (1974) in connection with the release of a collection of his early stories. True, the interview turned out to be not very informative - the writer was outraged by the unauthorized publication of his early works, finding it an invasion of his personal life, and the published stories were unsuccessful.

Jerome David Salinger died of natural causes in his home in the Corniche on January 27, 2010 (January 28 in some sources) at the age of 91. His son announced the death and the writer's literary agent confirmed this information.

Information about the works:

According to Salinger's daughter, Margaret, the house in the Corniche was littered with her father's manuscripts. For his works, the writer developed a system of labels: some, for example, mean that this book should be published after his death without editing, others - after editing, but still only after the death of the author. However, there is still no information about any planned publications.

Salinger had three “numbered” cats in his house: Kitty-1, Kitty-2 and Kitty-3.

Journalists gave Salinger the nickname "Greto Garbo of Literature", comparing with an actress who left Hollywood early, but left an indelible mark on the history of cinema.

In 2009, Swedish writer Fredrik Kolting published under the pseudonym John David California the novel 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, a continuation of the famous novel. Main character- 76-year-old Mr. K. (Mr. Caulfield) wanders around New York, having escaped from a nursing home. On June 1, 2009, Salinger filed an intellectual property lawsuit in Manhattan District Court, accusing Colting of plagiarism. On July 1, 2009, a court banned publication of Colting's novel in the United States.

Some tragic associations are associated with the novel The Catcher in the Rye. So, Mark Chapman, the killer of John Lennon, after the murder, sitting under a street lamp, began to read this particular book. The Catcher in the Rye was also obsessed with John Hinckley, who assassinated US President Ronald Reagan in 1981.

Salinger was always against film adaptations of his works, except for the film adaptation of Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut in 1949, which, it must be said, failed. And even to Eli Kazan's request to stage The Catcher in the Rye on Broadway, Salinger replied: “I can't give my permission. I'm afraid Holden wouldn't like it." However, one adaptation did take place. Iranian director Dariush Mehrjui wrote to the writer asking for permission to film Franny & Zooey. The author of the story did not even answer this letter, apparently already tired of such requests, but Dariush Mehrjui understood the silence as a sign of consent. As a result, having adapted the story for Iranian everyday life: replacing Christianity with Islam, removing smoking and alcohol, changing names, etc., the film “Paris” was released in Iranian distribution in 1995, which, however, was banned by an American court from being shown in United States at the Salinger suit. At the same time, variations of the image of Holden Caulfield can be found in different films, for example, Rebel Without a Cause by Nicholas Ray (1955), The Graduate by Mike Nichols (1967), Wasteland by Terence Malick (1973).
Regarding the writer's reaction to requests for a film adaptation, a letter from 1957, which was published after Salinger's death, is very illustrative:

Dear Mr Herbert,
I will try to explain to you my attitude towards the film rights and the theatrical production of The Catcher in the Rye. I have had to sing this motive more than once, and I ask you to show indulgence if it seems to you that I am singing without a soul. Firstly, the possibility of selling the rights is not excluded at all. In view of the fact that I will most likely not succeed in dying a rich man, I am increasingly thinking about transferring the unsold rights to my wife and daughter - as a safety net, so to speak. However, I will note that the fact that I will not see the results of this transaction with my own eyes pleases me to no end. I say it over and over, but no one seems to agree with me: The Catcher in the Rye is a very "literary" novel. Yes, it contains ready-made "movie scenes", it would be foolish to argue with this, but for me the whole value of the book is concentrated in the voice of the narrator and his countless subtleties; what matters most to me is his legibility in his readers and listeners, his digressions on gasoline rainbows in puddles, his worldview, his attitude to cowhide suitcases and empty toothpaste boxes – in a word, I treasure his thoughts. It cannot be safely separated from the first-person narrative. I agree: even if they are forcibly separated, the remaining material will be enough for the so-called "Interesting (or maybe just Entertaining) Evening in Kinoshka." But this idea seems almost vile to me, in any case, it is vile enough that I did not sell the rights to the film adaptation. Many of his thoughts, of course, can be processed into dialogues or spoken as a stream of consciousness off-screen, but here I can’t find any other expression than “far-fetched”. Thoughts and actions that seem absolutely natural in the solitude of the novel, on stage, at best, will turn into pseudo-simulation, if such a word exists at all (I hope not). But I have not yet mentioned how risky it is to attract, God forgive me, actors! Have you ever seen a girl actress who would sit cross-legged on the bed and look at the same time at ease? I'm sure not. And Holden Caulfield, in my super-biased opinion, is basically impossible to play. You just can't get enough of a Sensitive, Smart, Talented Young Actor in a Reversible Coat. To do this, you need a truly mysterious person, and if some young man and there is a riddle in the soul, then how to dispose of it, he probably does not know. And no director, I assure you, will help him with this.
On this I, perhaps, will stop. In conclusion, I could clarify that my position is not subject to revision, but I believe you yourself have already understood this.
Nevertheless, thank you for your kind and surprisingly intelligible letter. Usually my mail interlocutors are not able to connect two words.

Best wishes,

J.D. Salinger.

Translation - Anton Svinarenko