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JD Salinger

 

             Jerome David Salinger is one of the most significant post-World War II American novelists, when he published his The Catcher in the Rye in 1951, he gained immediately a great reputation, especially among younger intellectuals. While little is know about his life because he is a secretive person, his only published novel is widely known throughout the world and is the 3rd most censored book in America. Besides The Catcher in the Rye Salinger has written many stories that have been featured in magazines such as Harper's, Saturday Evening Post, Good Housekeeping, and the New Yorker.
             Salinger was born in the fashionable apartment district of Manhattan, New York to a prosperous Jewish importer of kosher cheese and his Scottish-Irish wife on January 1, 1919. His lived with his father, mother, and two sisters in a beautiful apartment on Park Avenue. As a youth Salinger was very standoffish, not to a great degree, but it was noticeable and commented on. When called upon to be social, he could appear to be warm and engaging. He had no problem being the center of attention when amusing his classmates with well-told stories and jokes, but when it was time to go hang out, he usually stayed behind. .
             Salinger had early, inner conflicts concerning his father, Sol, who was cold toward his son. Placed pressure on him to make money and wanted him to have a secure job with high social status. He also wanted him to some day take over the family business of importing and processing European meats and cheeses. When his father died he didn't bother to attend the funeral, nor even tell his girlfriend. .
             After flunking out of McBarney School (1932-1934) in New York for failing to do his work, Salinger decided to attend Valley Forge Military Academy (1934-1936). His mother, not his father, took him to the entrance interview and he moved into the bunk hose a few days later. At Valley Forge, he was the manager of the fencing team, just as was Holden in The Catcher in the Rye.


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