Salinger, J(erome) D(avid) (Vol. 1) | Salinger, J(erome) D(avid) 1919–
Salinger, J(erome) D(avid) 1919–
An American novelist and short story writer, Salinger is best known for The Catcher in the Rye, and Franny and Zooey. (See also Contemporary Authors, Vols. 5-8, rev. ed.)
[Recent] neglect [of Salinger] is unfortunate for at least two reasons. First of all, and perhaps less important, Salinger has, in a measure, revived the dormant art of dialect in American fiction. His ear has detected innumerable idiomatic expressions that were simply unrecorded before…. But this achievement is somewhat self-evident. I prefer to justify Salinger on a second basis: namely, the coherence of his particular vision of the world. This is essentially the vision of his heroes—of Holden Caulfield, Seymour Glass, Teddy, Franny, Daumier Smith, and the rest. The important question in Salinger is why these intelligent, highly sensitive, affectionate beings fight curious, gruelling battles, leaderless and causeless, in...
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