The novel "The Catcher in the Rye," the collection "Nine Pieces," and two collections comprising two long stories about the fictional Glass family: "Franny and Zooey" and "Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and... Johnny Cash.
JD Salinger wrote under a number of different pen names including J D Winters, John David Winter, and Joseph Delaney. The most famous of these is "J D Salinger", which appears as the author's own name on all his books except for "A Perfect Day". "J D Winters" authored "The Catcher in the Rye", which was later made into a movie by Warner Bros. In 1960, after failing to find success with another novel he had written entitled "A Streetcar Named Desire", Salinger retired permanently from writing.
He returned to publishing in 1973 with the release of "Summer Sisters", a book of short stories. Two years later, he released another collection titled "Last Night at Freddy's". In 1978, Salinger again returned to writing with the release of "A Perfect Day". However, this time it was as the editor of an anthology titled "Four Winds Magazine". He remained its editor until his death in 2010.
Besides being an author, Salinger was also a prominent socialite during his lifetime.
Despite his little body of work and secluded lifestyle, J.D. Salinger was a literary titan. The Catcher in the Rye, his seminal masterpiece, changed the direction of literature in postwar America and catapulted Salinger to literary prominence. This iconic novel, which describes the experiences of a young man named James Dean DiAngelos as he moves through New York City and ponders life while smoking cigarettes and drinking coffee, is regarded by many as one of the greatest novels of all time.
Salinger started writing poetry when he was 12 years old. He then moved on to short stories, which led him to write essays for school journals and later fictional works. The Catcher in the Rye was published when Salinger was 26 years old. He died at the age of 40 after falling down the stairs of his home in Cornish, New Hampshire.
Although he was only granted $150,000 during his lifetime, Salinger's family inherited more than $3 million after his death. They used part of this inheritance money to create an award called the J.D. Salinger Prize, which is given out annually to "a single work of fiction by an American author who has yet to publish a novel."
Salinger himself said that he regretted authoring "The Catcher in the Rye," owing to the attention it garnered to him. The film also alludes to Mary McCarthy's well-known critique of the Glass family legends, "J.D. Says." In it, she calls "The Catcher in the Rye" a bad book that should be read only by children.
However, many critics consider "J.D. Says" to be one of the best essays on literature of the 20th century. It was published in 1957, which means Salinger had already achieved fame with his first novel. So, perhaps he felt compelled to respond to this criticism by writing another essay on books?
Or maybe he just wanted to have something new to say about literature? We will never know for sure because he died in 2010 at the age of 76.
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