J. D. Salinger

American author (1919-2010) · United States · Writers · Died at 91

J. D. Salinger is read about 2,607 times a day, in 90 languages.

A typical day, 30 days to 22 October 2026

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He wrote one novel about a teenager who hated phonies, then spent five decades hiding from everyone who wanted to talk about it.

Writers Writer / Author Literature Fiction United States Americas 20th Century

A life in dates

2010Died27 January 20102000“There is a marvelous peace in not publishing. ... It's peaceful. Still. Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I live to write.”In their wordsStatements to New York Times reporter Lacey Fosburgh, as quoted in Salinger : A Biography (2000) by Paul Alexander; also in If You ReallyRead the whole statement

1972“I'm aware that many of my friends will be saddened and shocked, or shock-saddened, over some of the chapters in The Catcher in the Rye. Some of my best friends are children.”In their wordsAs quoted in The Twentieth Century (1972) by Caroline Farrar Ware, p. 429Read the whole statement

1950“I remember wanting to do something about that enormous-faced wristwatch she was wearing - perhaps suggest that she try wearing it around her waist.”In their wordsFor Esmé - with Love and Squalor (1950)Read the whole statement

1948“She wasn't doing a thing that I could see, except standing there leaning on the balcony railing, holding the universe together.”In their wordsA Girl I Knew (1948)Read the whole statement

“I see you are looking at my feet," he said to her when car was in motion."I beg your pardon?" said the woman."I said I see you're looking at my feet"."I beg your pardon.”In their wordsA Perfect Day for Bananafish (1948)Read the whole statement

“Outside the building, she started to walk west to Lexington to catch the bus.”In their wordsJust Before the War with the Eskimos (1948)Read the whole statement

1919Born1 January 1919

Also in Deutsch

Photos 7

J. D. Salinger (Catcher in the Rye portrait)

Portrait of JD Salinger

Salinger 2023a

Salinger 2023b

Salinger 2023c

In their own words 10

J. D. Salinger

10 statements, newest first

There is a marvelous peace in not publishing. ... It's peaceful. Still. Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy. I like to write. I live to write.
2000, Statements to New York Times reporter Lacey Fosburgh, as quoted in Salinger : A Biography (2000) by Paul Alexander; also in If You Really, Own words
I love to write and I assure you I write regularly... But I write for myself, for my own pleasure. And I want to be left alone to do it.
1980, Interview in The Baton Rouge Advocate (1980), as quoted in "J.D. Salinger, author of 'Catcher in the Rye,' dies" in The Washington Post (28, Own words
I'm aware that many of my friends will be saddened and shocked, or shock-saddened, over some of the chapters in The Catcher in the Rye. Some of my best friends are children.
1972, As quoted in The Twentieth Century (1972) by Caroline Farrar Ware, p. 429, Own words

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Family

J. D. Salinger

Partners

Spouse Claire Douglas

Children

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About this person

Jerome David Salinger published short stories in Story magazine in 1940, served in World War II, then broke through in 1948 when The New Yorker ran "A Perfect Day for Bananafish." The Catcher in the Rye arrived in 1951 and became an immediate popular success - its portrait of adolescent alienation hit especially hard with adolescent readers - but the scrutiny that followed drove Salinger into seclusion. He published three more books through 1963: Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey, and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction, all drawing from the same vein. His last published work, the novella Hapworth 16, 1924, appeared in The New Yorker on June 19, 1965. After that, silence - and decades of fighting off the attention, including a legal battle with biographer Ian Hamilton in the 1980s and memoirs from his former lover Joyce Maynard and his daughter Margaret in the late 1990s. He died from natural causes in 2010.

Country

United States

In common with J.

Dariush MehrjuiAlso in Pari (1995)

Niki KarimiAlso in Pari (1995)

Ali MosaffaAlso in Pari (1995)

Writers from the United States 3

Eugene O'Neill72.1

L. Ron Hubbard72.3

Crowder70.3

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