J D Salinger
"The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it." -James Bryce*In 1945, a novel was published that would forever change the way society views itself. The book, entitled The Catcher in the Rye, would propel a man named Jerome David Salinger to fame as one of the most famous authors of the twentieth century. This same man, not ten years after the publication and while still in the peak of his career, would depart from this society- the one that he so greatly changed leaving nothing but his literature to be his lasting voice. However one may view this mysterious life of J. D. Salinger, there is but one thing for certain: J. D. Salinger has provided the reader with a controversial look at society which is greatly enhanced by the integration of his own life experiences, dialect and religious philosophies into his stories. "Salinger was the greatest mind ever to stay in prep school." -Norman Mailer (qtd. in "Salinger" SSC 291)The story of J. D. Salinger begins in downtown New York, NY, where he was born on January 1, 1919. Little is known about his early childhood, but his parents; Sol and Miriam, were known to be of upper-middle class stature and the family dwelled in downtown
The incident so affected Salinger that he incorporates it into his short story, "For Esme: with Love and Squalor," with a corporal named Clay shooting the head off a cat and constantly dwelling upon the senseless act. Linda Gorden attributes the integration of Eastern philosophy to "[Salinger's] no longer trying to please the conventional readers but ridding himself of conventional forms and methods accepted by Western society" (Gorden 2046). This method is the author's way of pointing the reader's headin the diction he himself chooses. " Such a conclusion can be drawn for a number of reasons. World War II is also where Salinger met one of his major literary influences, Ernest Hemingway. Nace goes on to expand by stating that children are always a symbol and reality of hope, the hope that is eventually lost in a society that no longer cares. The Catcher in the Rye is now considered one of the fifty best novels of the century and the message is still lying inside its covers, waiting to be discovered by ever-new audiences.
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