Jd salinger biography summary

J. D. Salinger (January 1, 1919–January 27, 2010) was an American author mostly known for his seminal teenage-angst novel The Catcher in the Rye and numerous short stories. Though critically and commercially successful, Salinger led a mostly reclusive life. 

Early Life (1919-1940)

J. D. Salinger was born in Manhattan on January 1, 1919. His father, Sol, was a Jewish importer, while his mother, Marie Jillich, was of Scottish-Irish descent but changed her name to Miriam upon marrying Sol. He had an older sister, Doris. In 1936, J. D. graduated from Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania, where he served as the literary editor of the school’s yearbook, Crossed Sabres. There are claims about the years at Valley Forge serving as inspiration for some of the material of The Catcher in the Rye, but the similarities between his real-life experiences and the events in the book remain superficial. 

Between 1937 and 1938, Salinger visited Vienna and Poland with his father, in an attempt to learn his family’s trade. After returning to the United States in 1938, he briefly attended Ursinus College in Pennsylvania, where he wrote a cultural-criticism column titled “Skipped Diploma.” 

Early Work and Wartime (1940-1946)

(1919-2010)

Who Was J.D. Salinger?

J.D. Salinger was a literary giant despite his slim body of work and reclusive lifestyle. His landmark novel, The Catcher in the Rye, set a new course for literature in post-WWII America and vaulted Salinger to the heights of literary fame. Despite his slim body of work and reclusive lifestyle, Salinger was one of the most influential American writers of the 20th century. His short stories, many of which appeared in The New Yorker, inspired the early careers of writers such as Phillip Roth, John Updike and Harold Brodkey. In 1953, Salinger moved from New York City and led a secluded life, only publishing one new story before his death.

Early Life

Writer Jerome David Salinger was born on January 1, 1919, in New York, New York. Salinger was the youngest of two children born to Sol Salinger, the son of a rabbi who ran a thriving cheese and ham import business, and Miriam, Sol's Scottish-born wife. At a time when mixed marriages of this sort were looked at with disdain from all corners of society, Miriam's non-Jewish background was so well hidden that it was only after his bar mitzvah at the age of 14 that Salinger learned of his mother's roots.

Despite his apparent intellect, Salinger—or Sonny as he was known as child—wasn't much of a student. After flunking out of the McBurney School near his home in New York's Upper West Side, he was shipped off by his parents to Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania.

Aspiring Writer

After graduating from Valley Forge, Salinger returned to his hometown for one year to attend New York University before heading off to Europe, flush with some cash and encouragement from his father to learn another language and learn more about the import business. But Salinger, who spent the bulk of his five months overseas in Vienna, paid closer attention to language than business.

Upon returning home, he made another attempt at college, this time at Ursinus College in

American writer (1919–2010)

Jerome David Salinger (SAL-in-jər; January 1, 1919 – January 27, 2010) was an American author best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger published several short stories in Story magazine in 1940, before serving in World War II. In 1948, his critically acclaimed story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" appeared in The New Yorker, which published much of his later work.

The Catcher in the Rye (1951) was an immediate popular success; Salinger's depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence was influential, especially among adolescent readers. The novel was widely read and controversial, and its success led to public attention and scrutiny. Salinger became reclusive, publishing less frequently. He followed Catcher with a short story collection, Nine Stories (1953); Franny and Zooey (1961), a volume containing a novella and a short story; and a volume containing two novellas, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). Salinger's last published work, the novella Hapworth 16, 1924, appeared in The New Yorker on June 19, 1965.

Afterward, Salinger struggled with unwanted attention, including a legal battle in the 1980s with biographer Ian Hamilton and the release in the late 1990s of memoirs written by two people close to him: Joyce Maynard, an ex-lover; and his daughter, Margaret Salinger.

Early life

Jerome David Salinger was born in Manhattan, New York, on January 1, 1919. His father, Sol Salinger, traded in Kosher cheese, and was from a family of Lithuanian-Jewish descent from Russian Empire. Sol's father was the rabbi for Adath Jeshurun Congregation in Louisville, Kentucky.

Salinger's mother, Marie (née Jillich), was born in Atlantic, Iowa, of German, Irish, and Scottish descent, "but chan