J. D. Salinger - Free Library Land Online - War

Catcher in the Rye

Wed, 14 Sep 1977 21:47:48 +0300

J. D. Salinger wrote one of the most famous books ever written, The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger wrote many stories and, in 1941, after several rejections, Salinger finally cracked The New Yorker, with a story, "Slight Rebellion Off Madison," that was an early sketch of what became a scene in "The Catcher in the Rye." The magazine then had second thoughts in part because of World War II in which Salinger was in combat, and held the story for five years before finally publishing it in 1946, buried in the back of an issue. Everyone was surprised when the story and the book that followed it became a bit hit. Even today nobody can really explain why Catcher in the Rye is so famous and so popular. Yet, millions have been sold and are still being sold even though only available as used books nowadays. When The Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951, it was registered for copyright as "additional material." This obviously referred to the earlier work "Slight Rebellion Off Madison." The copyright page on "The Catcher in the Rye" states "Copyright 1945, 1946, 1951 by J. D Salinger." The date of 1945 obviously refers to the publication of "I'm Crazy," a short story written by Salinger and published in the December 22, 1945 issue of Collier's magazine that first introduced the character Holden Caulfield to the reading public. Salinger later reworked this short story to incorporate it into The Catcher in the Rye. The two earlier stories are "I'm Crazy," an early version of Holden's departure from prep school that later shows up in The Catcher in the Rye. With minor alteration, much of this story is familiar to readers as the chapter where Holden visits Mr. Spencer. What sets this story apart is the presence of an additional Caulfield sister and the clarity of Holden's resignation and compromise at the end. "Slight Rebellion off Madison" is an early version of another scene in The Catcher in the Rye. The story follows Holden when he is home from Pency and goes to the movies, then skating with Sally Hayes, followed by his drunken calls to her apartment late at night. An early story, it is the first of Salinger's Caulfied works to be accepted for publication.

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters & Seymour: An Introduction

Wed, 14 Sep 1977 21:47:48 +0300

The author writes: The two long pieces in this book originally came out in The New Yorker ? RAISE HIGH THE ROOF BEAM, CARPENTERS in 1955, SEYMOUR ? An Introduction in 1959. Whatever their differences in mood or effect, they are both very much concerned with Seymour Glass, who is the main character in my still-uncompleted series about the Glass family. It struck me that they had better be collected together, if not deliberately paired off, in something of a hurry, if I mean them to avoid unduly or undesirably close contact with new material in the series. There is only my word for it, granted, but I have several new Glass stories coming along ? waxing, dilating ? each in its own way, but I suspect the less said about them, in mixed company, the better. Oddly, the joys and satisfactions of working on the Glass family peculiarly increase and deepen for me with the years. I can't say why, though. Not, at least, outside the casino proper of my fiction.

The Catcher in the Rye

Sun, 18 Nov 2001 15:27:56 +0200

The "brilliant, funny, meaningful novel" (The New Yorker) that established J. D. Salinger as a leading voice in American literature—and that has instilled in millions of readers around the world a lifelong love of books.

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth."
The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caufield. Through circumstances that tend to preclude adult, secondhand description, he leaves his prep school in Pennsylvania and goes underground in New York City for three days.

For Esmé, With Love and Squalor

Thu, 18 Nov 2010 15:31:30 +0200

A collection of nine exceptional stories from the much-loved author of The Catcher in the Rye An American soldier has a strange encounter with an orphaned English teenager the night before he leaves for war. A four-year-old boy runs away in a dinghy; a missionary's child is kidnapped by Chinese bandits. A honeymoon in Florida goes awry with tragic consequences. Including the first stories to feature Salinger's beloved Glass family characters, this brilliantly varied collection offers a vivid introduction to the work of one of the most admired and widely read American novelists of the twentieth century. Witty, urbane and frequently affecting, For Esme - with Love and Squalor sits alongside Salinger's very best work - a gem that will be passed down for many generations to come.

For Esmé—With Love and Squalor includes two of Salinger's most famous and critically acclaimed stories, and helped to establish him as one of the contemporary literary greats. The title story recounts a Sergeant's meeting with a young girl before being sent into combat. When it was first published in The New Yorker in 1950 it was an immediate sensation and prompted a flood of readers' fan-letters.

'A Perfect Day for Bananafish' is the first of the author's stories to feature the Glass family, the loveable and idiosyncratic family who would appear in much of Salinger's later fiction. A haunting and unforgettable piece of writing, the story follows the eldest sibling, Seymour Glass, and his wife, Muriel, as they embark on an ill-fated honeymoon in Florida . . .

A collection of nine exceptional stories from the much-loved author of The Catcher in the Rye A military sergeant meets a young girl immediately before he leaves for combat, a four-year-old boy runs away in a dinghy, a honeymoon in Florida goes tragically awry, a missionary's child is kidnapped by Chinese bandits. Including the first stories to feature Salinger's beloved Glass family characters, this brilliantly varied collection offers a vivid introduction to the work of one of the most admired and widely read American novelists of the twentieth century. Witty, urbane and frequently affecting, For Esmé - with Love and Squalor sits alongside Salinger's very best work as writing that will be passed down for many generations to come.

Franny and Zooey

Wed, 14 Sep 1977 21:47:48 +0300

The short story, *Franny*, takes place in an unnamed college town and tells the tale of an undergraduate who is becoming disenchanted with the selfishness and inauthenticity she perceives all around her. The novella, *Zooey*, is named for Zooey Glass, the second-youngest member of the Glass family. As his younger sister, Franny, suffers a spiritual and existential breakdown in her parents' Manhattan living room -- leaving Bessie, her mother, deeply concerned -- Zooey comes to her aid, offering what he thinks is brotherly love, understanding, and words of sage advice. Salinger writes of these works: *"FRANNY came out in The New Yorker in 1955, and was swiftly followed, in 1957 by ZOOEY. Both stories are early, critical entries in a narrative series I'm doing about a family of settlers in twentieth-century New York, the Glasses. It is a long-term project, patently an ambiguous one, and there is a real-enough danger, I suppose that sooner or later I'll bog down, perhaps disappear entirely, in my own methods, locutions, and mannerisms. On the whole, though, I'm very hopeful. I love working on these Glass stories, I've been waiting for them most of my life, and I think I have fairly decent, monomaniacal plans to finish them with due care and all-available skill."*

Nine Stories

Wed, 14 Sep 1977 21:47:48 +0300

Nine Stories (1953) is a collection of short stories by American fiction writer J. D. Salinger published in April 1953. It includes two of his most famous short stories, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and "For Esmé – with Love and Squalor". (Nine Stories is the U.S. title; the book is published in many other countries as For Esmé - with Love and Squalor, and Other Stories.) The stories are: "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" "Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut" "Just Before the War with the Eskimos" "The Laughing Man" "Down at the Dinghy" "For Esmé – with Love and Squalor" "Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes" "De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period" "Teddy"

The Glass Family

Sat, 18 Nov 2017 15:31:31 +0200

The last work by the celebrated author of Franny and Zooey and For Esmé—With Love and Squalor.

The author writes: These are entries in a narrative series I'm doing about a family of settlers in twentieth-century New York, the Glasses. It is a long-term project, patently an ambitious one, and there is a real enough danger, I suppose, that sooner or later I'll bog down, perhaps disappear entirely, in my own methods, locutions, and mannerisms. On the whole, though, I'm very hopeful. I love working on these Glass stories, I've been waiting for them most of my life, and I think I have fairly decent, monomaniacal plans to finish them with due care and all available skill.

“Seldom more than two or three really first-rate writers exist simultaneously in a given generation. I think that Salinger and Updike are by far the finest artists in recent years . . . ‘A Perfect Day for Bananafish’: This is a great story.”—Vladimir Nabokov, Strong Opinions
“‘Zooey’ is arguably Salinger’s masterpiece. Rereading it and its companion piece, ‘Franny,” is no less rewarding than rereading The Great Gatsby. It remains brilliant.” —Janet Malcolm, The New York Review of Books
“I am one of those for whom Salinger’s work dawned as a revelation. ‘Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters’ is the best of the Glass stories: a magic and hilarious prose-poem with an enchanting end effect of mysterious clarity, like a koan. . . . The refusal to rest content, the willingness to risk excess on behalf of one’s obsessions, is what distinguishes artists from entertainers, and what makes some artists adventurers on behalf of us all.” —John Updike, The New York Times Book Review

Three Stories

Wed, 27 Nov 2013 18:52:54 +0200

The short stories included in this book are the following: • The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls • Birthday Boy • Paula (also known as Mrs. Hincher ) Additionally, there is a letter from J. D. Salinger himself to a John Woodman.

22 Out-of-print J. D. Salinger Stories

Mon, 17 Nov 2014 15:57:04 +0200