Meet the Writer: J.D. Salinger

Jerome David Salinger (January 1, 1919 – January 27, 2010) was an American writer who won acclaim early in life. He led a very private life for more than a half-century. He published his final original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980.

Salinger was raised in Manhattan and began writing short stories while in secondary school. Several were published in Story magazine in the early 1940s before he began serving in World War II. In 1948, his critically acclaimed story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" appeared in The New Yorker magazine, which became home to much of his later work. In 1951, his novel The Catcher in the Rye was 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.

Salinger identified closely with his characters, as seen through many of his classic works, and used techniques such as interior monologue, letters, and extended telephone calls to display his gift for dialogue. Such style elements also gave him the illusion of having, as it were, delivered his characters' destinies into their own keeping. Recurring themes in Salinger's stories also connect to the ideas of innocence and adolescence, including the corrupting influence of Hollywood and the world at large, the disconnect between teenagers and "phony" adults, and the perceptive, precocious intelligence of children.

Salinger died of natural causes on January 27, 2010, at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire. In November 2013, three unpublished stories by Salinger were briefly posted online. One of the stories, called "The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls", is said to be a prequel to The Catcher in the Rye.