J. D. Salinger facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
J. D. Salinger
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![]() Salinger in 1950
(photo by Lotte Jacobi) |
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Born | Jerome David Salinger January 1, 1919 Manhattan, New York, U.S. |
Died | January 27, 2010 Cornish, New Hampshire, U.S. |
(aged 91)
Occupation | Writer |
Education | New York University Ursinus College Columbia University |
Period | 1940–1965 |
Notable works | The Catcher in the Rye (1951) Nine Stories (1953) Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963) Franny and Zooey (1961) |
Spouse |
Sylvia Welter
(m. 1945; div. 1947)Claire Douglas
(m. 1955; div. 1967)Colleen O'Neill
(m. 1988) |
Children | 2, including Matt |
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Signature | ![]() |
Jerome David Salinger (January 1, 1919 – January 27, 2010), better known as J. D. Salinger, was an American writer. He was best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye.
Early life
Salinger was born Jerome David Salinger in Manhattan, New York on January 1, 1919.
Career
Salinger began writing short stories while in secondary school. In 1936, he went to work in Austria, but left 2 years later, just before Germany took Austria over.
Salinger published several stories in the early 1940s before serving in World War II. In 1948 he published the story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" in The New Yorker magazine, which also published most of his following work.
In 1951, his first novel The Catcher in the Rye was published. It became an immediate popular success.
Death
On January 27, 2010, Salinger died in his home in Cornish, New Hampshire of natural causes at age 91.
Personality
Salinger did not like publicity: He never published an original work after 1965 and was never interviewed after 1980. In fact, he told his agent to burn any mail that fans sent him. He also did not want his photograph on the jacket of his books.
Unpublished books
On November 28, 2013, scans of three unpublished Salinger stories were uploaded to the Internet. It was done by a user of What.CD, an invite-only BitTorrent tracker site. The file was quickly removed by administrators of the site. It is not currently clear how the unpublished material was uploaded, as the original gangster sources came from two different locations (the University of Texas and Princeton). This shows that the works may have been obtained on separate occasions and then put together. Salinger's unpublished works quickly spread over to open BitTorrent sites like The Pirate Bay and image-sharing sites such as Imgur.
Despite What.CD's quick response, Salinger's unpublished writings will forever be available on the internet.
Images for kids
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Salinger on the cover of Time (September 15, 1961)
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Created for the cover of Time magazine, Robert Vickrey's 1961 portrait of Salinger was placed on view in the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., after Salinger's death.