Salinger : A Biography

J.D. Salinger: A Biography offers the first full-length popular account of American literature's great recluse, giving new insights into the author of The Catcher In the Rye . Salinger, was one of the most successful writers of American short fiction---the quintessential New Yorker writer---when he was only in his twenties and thirties. Then, mysteriously, he withdrew from the world, retiring to a cabin in New Hampshire where he practices Zen. Though Salinger has said that he continues to write, he has not published since the early 1960s Paul Alexander, bestselling biographer and journalist, has carefully researched and masterfully described Salinger the human being and Salinger the icon. He answers the numerous questions that encircle the life and legacy of J.D. Salinger. Why did critics become unreceptive to Salinger's stories as he grew older? Why are the important women in his life so much younger than he? Why does he sometimes seem to be playing peek-a-boo with his admirers? If he truly wants to be left alone, why does he leave so many clues? Why have his books been linked with famously psychotic young people such as the assassin of John Lennon and the would-be assassin of President Reagan? Alexander draws upon published sources and personal interviews with over forty important literary figures such as George Plimpton, Gay Talese, and Tom Wolfe. He traces the writer's early years living on the periphery of genteel society in Manhattan's Upper West Side. He follows Salinger's failures and successes as a student, his harrowing experiences during World War II, and his romances---including one with teenager Oona O'Neill, who married Charlie Chaplin. He connects Salinger's life to Salinger's work through detailed commentary on his writings, and he gives the only complete overview ever written of the last thirty years of the writer's life-a history of attempts to escape attention combined with a coy desire to remain in the public eye J. D. Salinger Has Taken Every Precaution To Hide Details Of His Private Life. Now Salinger, A Biography Tells The Story Of America's Great Literary Recluse. He Was Not Always A Mystery. In The 1940s And 1950s Salinger Was A Successful And Prolific Writer Of American Short Fiction - The Quintessential New Yorker Writer. Then He Withdrew To A Cabin In New Hampshire Where He Practices Zen And Has Continued To Write - But Only For Himself. Why Is He In Hiding? Who Is He? Paul Alexander, A Journalist And Biographer, Describes Salinger The Human Being And Salinger The Icon. Alexander Has Based His Work On Newly Opened Archives And Personal Interviews With Over Forty Major Literary Figures, Including George Plimpton, Gay Talese, Ian Hamilton, Harold Bloom, Roger Angell, A. Scott Berg, Robert Giroux, Ved Mehta, Gordon Lish, And Tom Wolfe. In Salinger, A Biography, Alexander Tells The Story Of A Man Whose Fictional Creations Became As Real To Him As Friends, Family, And Lovers - A Man Who Chose, In Adolescence, To Stop His Life In A Freeze Frame And Who Has Lingered In That Fantasy World For A Half Century.--jacket. A Sighting -- Two Biographies -- Sonny -- The Young Folks -- Inventing Holden Caulfield -- Private Salinger -- Sylvia -- Seymour Glass, Etc. -- 1950 -- The Catcher In The Rye -- Nine Stories -- Claire -- The Glass Family -- Heroes And Villains -- Good-byes -- Joyce -- Theft, Rumor, And Innuendo -- Stalking Salinger -- Trials And Tribulations -- Ghosts In The Shadows -- Coda. Paul Alexander. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. "J. D. Salinger was one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He was also one of its most elusive. After making his mark on the American literary scene with the classic Bildungsroman The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger retreated to a small town in New Hampshire, where he hoped to hide his life away from the world. With dogged determination, however, journalist and biographer Paul Alexander captured Salinger's story in this, the only complete biography of Holden Caulfield's creator published to date. Using the archives at Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Columbia, NYU and the New York Public Library as well as research in New York and New Hampshire, Alexander has created a great biography of Salinger that's further enriched by interviews with some of the greatest literary figures of our time: George Plimpton, Gay Talese, Ian Hamilton, Harold Bloom, Roger Angell, A. Scott Berg, Robert Giroux, Ved Mehta, Gordon Lish and Tom Wolfe. This comprehensive biography of J. D. Salinger was the inspiration for the major Hollywood film Salinger, directed by Shane Salerno and produced by The Weinstein Company, the producers of blockbuster films including The Iron Lady and Silver Linings Playbook"--Publisher's description