John Steinbeck in 1939 Born

Contents

• 
  1Early life
  
• 
  2World War II
  
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  3Postwar years
  
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  4The Catcher in the Rye
  
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  5Writing in the 1950s and move to Cornish
  
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  6Second marriage, family, and spiritual beliefs
  
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  7Last publications and Maynard relationship
  
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  8Legal conflicts
  
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  9Later publicity
  
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  10Death
  
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  11Posthumous publications
  
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  12Literary style and themes
  
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  13Influence
  
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  14List of works
  
  • 
    14.1Books
    
  • 
    14.2Published and anthologized stories
    
  • 
    14.3Published and unanthologized stories
    
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    14.4Early unpublished stories
    
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  15Media portrayals and references
  
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  16Notes
  
• 
  17Citations
  
• 
  18References
  
• 
  19External links
  

Early life[edit]

1133 Park Avenue in Manhattan, where Salinger grew up

Jerome David Salinger was born in Manhattan, New York, on January 1, 1919.^[3] His father, Sol Salinger, traded in kosher cheese, and was from a Jewish family of Lithuanian descent,^[4] his own father having been the rabbi for the Adath Jeshurun Congregation in Louisville, Kentucky.^[5]

Salinger's mother, Marie (née Jillich), was born in Atlantic, Iowa, of German, Irish, and Scottish descent,^[6][7][8] "but changed her first name to Miriam to appease her in-laws"^[9] and considered herself Jewish after marrying Salinger's father.^[10] Salinger did not learn that his mother was not of Jewish ancestry until just after he celebrated his bar mitzvah.^[11] He had one sibling, an older sister, Doris (1912–2001).^[12]

In his youth, Salinger attended public schools on the West Side of Manhattan. In 1932, the family moved to Park Avenue, and Salinger enrolled at the McBurney School, a nearby private school.^[8] Salinger had trouble fitting in there and took measures to conform, such as calling himself Jerry.^[13] His family called him Sonny.^[14] At McBurney, he managed the fencing team, wrote for the school newspaper and appeared in plays.^[8] He "showed an innate talent for drama," though his father opposed the idea of his becoming an actor.^[15] His parents then enrolled him at Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne, Pennsylvania.^[8] Salinger began writing stories "under the covers [at night], with the aid of a flashlight".^[16] He was the literary editor of the class yearbook, Crossed Sabres, and participated in the glee club, aviation club, French club, and the Non-Commissioned Officers Club.^[13]

Salinger's Valley Forge 201 file says he was a "mediocre" student, and his recorded IQ between 111 and 115 was slightly above average.^[17][18] He graduated in 1936. Salinger started his freshman year at New York University in 1936. He considered studying special education^[19] but dropped out the following spring. That fall, his father urged him to learn about the meat-importing business, and he went to work at a company in Vienna and Bydgoszcz, Poland.^[20] Surprisingly, Salinger went willingly, but he was so disgusted by the slaughterhouses that he firmly decided to embark on a different career. His disgust for the meat business and rejection of his father likely influenced his vegetarianism as an adult.^[21] He left Austria one month before it was annexed by Nazi Germany on March 12, 1938.^{[citation needed]}

In the fall of 1938, Salinger attended Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and wrote a column called "skipped diploma," which included movie reviews.^[22] He dropped out after one semester.^[8][14] In 1939, Salinger attended the Columbia University School of General Studies in Manhattan, where he took a writing class taught by Whit Burnett, longtime editor of Story magazine. According to Burnett, Salinger did not distinguish himself until a few weeks before the end of the second semester, at which point "he suddenly came to life" and completed three stories.^[23] Burnett told Salinger that his stories were skillful and accomplished, accepting "The Young Folks," a vignette about several aimless youths, for publication in Story.^[23] Salinger's debut short story was published in the magazine's March–April 1940 issue. Burnett became Salinger's mentor, and they corresponded for several years.^[13][24]