In Search of J. D. Salinger

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In Search of J. D. Salinger (Magill’s Literary Annual 1991-2005)

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The unauthorized biography is one of the strange subgenres to emerge in the late twentieth century, along with mystery novels in which fictional characters pursue real-life criminals, autobiographical journalism, and other hard-to-categorize works which suggest a sort of genre meltdown taking place in modern literature. It was formerly considered proper for a biographer to wait until his subject was at least on his deathbed, but things move faster these days, possibly as a subtle by-product of electronic technology. Furthermore, books about a living though refractory subject have proved...

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