JD Salinger

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Jerome David Salinger ([ ˈsælɪndʒər ]; born January 1, 1919 in New York ; † January 27, 2010 in Cornish , New Hampshire ), mostly abbreviated as J. D. Salinger , was an American writer . He became world famous by his 1951 novel, The Catcher in the Rye (The Catcher in the Rye) and a series of stories about the fictional Glass family. From the 1960s onwards, Salinger no longer published and lived in seclusion until his death.

Life

1133 Park Avenue in New York, where Salinger grew up

Jerome David Salinger was born in New York City on New Year's Day 1919. His father Solomon Salinger, where the family name Salinger also goes back to Salomon, came from a Jewish family of Lithuanian descent and sold kosher cheese in New York after he had previously been a rabbi in a synagogue in Louisville , Kentucky . His paternal grandfather was born in Tauroggen in 1860 and was also a rabbi. Salinger's mother Marie (nee Jillich) was from Atlantic , Iowa , and had Scottish , German, and Irish ancestry. She changed her name to Miriam and saw herself as a Jew after marrying Solomon Salinger. Until his bar mitzvah , J. D. Salinger did not know that his mother was not of Jewish origin. Doris (1911–2001) was his only sister.

Salinger attended the private McBurney School in Manhattan and was then trained at the Valley Forge Military Academy in Wayne , Pennsylvania from 1934 to 1936 . As the author of film reviews and editor of the cadet magazine Crossed Sabers (Eng. "Crossed Sabers"), he made his first attempts at writing. In 1937 he stayed in Europe for five months , where, at the request of his father , he completed an apprenticeship in a slaughterhouse with his relatives in Vienna in order to prepare for the legacy of his father's import business.

According to the (unauthorized) biography of Ian Hamilton , he followed the family tree of his fatherly Jewish ancestors in Poland . In Vienna he is said to have witnessed harassment against residents of the Jewish quarter. In 1938 he enrolled at Ursinus College, in Collegeville, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania , and also worked as a theater critic and columnist for Ursinus Weekly . During this time he took a short story writing course. In 1939 he moved to Columbia University , New York, and published his first short story in the influential story magazine in 1940. In total, he wrote two short stories that year, The Young People and Go to Eddie , both of which were only published in 2014. Salinger left college without a degree.

In the summer of 1941 Salinger had a brief relationship with Oona O'Neill , which, however, left him for her future husband Charlie Chaplin . This relationship influenced the portrayal of relationships with women in Salinger's later work. O'Neill was considered Salinger's "great love". Even decades later, Salinger was public and derogatory about O'Neill's marriage to Chaplin. He published another story in The Young Folks magazine in 1941.

In the following year Salinger joined the US Army (in the United States Army Signal Corps and in the Counter Intelligence Corps ) and took part in five campaigns in France from the time the USA entered the Second World War until the end of the war involved in the battle in the Hürtgenwald in autumn 1944. Previously, in 1943, he was transferred to Maryland , the following year to Devon (England), where he was responsible for the deactivation of enemy transmitters as part of the CIC operational planning. On June 6, 1944, he took part in the Normandy landing as a special agent of the 12th Infantry Regiment . During this time he wrote the story Once a week won't kill you , which was only published in 2014. During his subsequent stay in Paris, he met the war correspondent at the time, Ernest Hemingway , who certified him as having a "devilish talent".

Salinger probably visited the concentration camp Kaufering IV shortly after its liberation on April 27, 1945, probably on April 28, since he was assigned to the unit of the 4th Infantry Division in his military service. At that time, this unit was located near the concentration camp Kaufering IV, liberated by the 12th Armored Division. J. D. Salinger never commented publicly on his experiences at that time. But after the war he is said to have been in psychotherapeutic treatment for a “ front shock ”. His daughter, Margaret Salinger, published a line from her father in 2000: You never really get the smell of burning flesh out of your nose entirely, no matter how long you live. ( "You never get really the smell of burning flesh out of your nose, no matter how long you live.") From the civic association Landsberg in the 20th century collected and u. a. Historical documents published by its chairman Anton Posset suggest that J. D. Salinger visited the concentration camp Kaufering IV shortly after its liberation. In Camp Kaufering IV, inmates unable to walk who could not be sent on a death march were burned alive before the Allied forces approached.

After the Second World War , Salinger, who spoke good German , worked in Gunzenhausen , Franconia , where he worked as a civilian for a department of the intelligence service after leaving the army. It is possible that he already wrote parts of his novel The Catcher in the Rye in Gunzenhausen . In Germany he was briefly married to a German doctor named Sylvia Welter (Salinger himself called her " Saliva "). The two stayed in the USA for a short time; but since his wife did not feel comfortable there, they returned to Germany. In 1946 the New Yorker magazine published his short story Slight Rebellion Off Madison , which had been sent in a few years earlier , in which the character Holden Caulfield appears for the first time , who would later become the protagonist in The Catcher in the Rye . A Perfect Day for Bananafish was published on January 31, 1948 .

In 1950 Salinger met the daughter of the British art critic R. Langton Douglas , Claire. During this time he began to study the teachings of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. However, this initially seems to have had no major impact on his writing. For in the novel The Catcher in the Rye , which was then completed in July 1951 and named after the poem Comin 'Thro' The Rye by Robert Burns , no reference points can be found for views of Paramahamsa. The following year he toured Florida and Mexico and then moved into his own house in Cornish in 1953 . Here he worked in seclusion with his partner. In February 1955 Salinger married the 19-year-old psychology student Claire Douglas, with whom he had two children: Margaret (* 1955), who published her memories of her father under the title Dream Catcher , and Matthew (* 1960), who was an actor and Author lives in Connecticut with his family .

After a long break, Salinger published a short story and a novella as Franny and Zooey in book form in September 1961 . Two years later, two more novels appeared as Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (Eng. Lifts the roof beam, carpenters and Seymour is introduced or Lifts on the roof beams, Carpenter and Seymour, an introduction ). His last personal publication was the story Hapworth 16, 1924 , which appeared in the New Yorker on June 19, 1965 . While the previous books still received some interest from the press, Salinger's last story went largely unnoticed. Like all of his publications after The Catcher in the Rye , it is about the Glass family. Hapworth 16, 1924 only caused a stir because of the quarrels about the publication of the work in book form, which was mentioned again and again, but which was ultimately prevented by Salinger. Allegedly, there are other unpublished manuscripts for novels by Salinger.

Two years later, Salinger divorced and in 1972 had a ten-month affair with the young Yale student Joyce Maynard, who later published her memoir ( At Home in the World ) about this affair . At the end of the 1980s Salinger married the third marriage to the nurse Colleen O'Neill. In 1992 his Cornish home burned down. On January 27, 2010, a few days after his 91st birthday, J. D. Salinger died in Cornish.

plant

His most famous work The Catcher in the Rye (1951; Eng. The Catcher in the Rye ) helped Salinger to world fame. In this novel, the 16-year-old protagonist Holden Caulfield describes his experiences in New York after he was kicked out of boarding school. On the one hand, Holden is reluctant to meet the expectations of the adult world, on the other hand, he does not feel fully taken by adults.

The conspicuous language ( idiolect ) of the first-person narrator led not only to enthusiasm but also to criticism. The book was initially banned in some Anglo-Saxon countries - the original edition contains the expression goddamn 255 times and the vulgar fuck 44 times . The first German translation of Catcher in the Rye , created by Irene Muehlon , was published in 1954 by Diana-Verlag in Zurich under the title Der Mann im Roggen . Translations of Salinger's texts into German were carried out by Heinrich Böll, who later won the Nobel Prize for Literature, and his wife Annemarie Böll , among others . Since this general revision of the previous translation, the novel has appeared in German under the title Der Fänger im Roggen . Another translation by Eike Schönfeld was published in 2003 .

Although Salinger has only published one novel, several longer narratives and 35 short stories, he is still considered one of the most widely read and most reviewed American authors of the post-war period. His literary myth goes so far that critics have referred to an entire decade of American literary history  - the years from 1948 to 1959 - as the Salinger era .

He left behind numerous works that were not published in book form (except in Japanese ) but in magazines. Others are kept in the Princeton Library.

There was constant speculation as to whether Salinger wrote more works in the five decades between his retirement from the public eye and his death. His son Matt gave a rare interview to the Guardian in January 2019, in which he stated that there are extensive, unpublished works by his father that are currently being prepared for publication. Due to the large size of the unpublished work, however, publication could drag on until around 2030.

Influences

The influence of Salinger on lifestyle and on literary and cinematic works goes far beyond the “Salinger era” mentioned above. As far as the influence on Salinger's work is concerned, u. a. Ernest Hemingway or Mark Twain ; Salinger's closeness to Buddhism is sometimes blamed for the seclusion in which Salinger lived his life . But Salinger certainly knew the hermit-like traditions of Russian monasticism, as they are evident in the Imjaslavie movement (“worship of the name of God”) and in hesychasm , which seeks “silence” in isolation and ecstasy in the constantly repeated Jesus prayer . The heroine of his second great success, “ Franny and Zooey ”, deals with these traditions in the book Frankish Tales of a Russian Pilgrim, which was important for the Russian Orthodox monastic traditions of the 19th and early 20th centuries .

Salinger's life as a subject in film and literature

Salinger's life story itself served as the subject in the film Forrester - Found! , in which Sean Connery portrays a reclusive successful author. There are also clear parallels to the writer Florious Fenix ​​in A Lover of Odd Numbers by Herbert Rosendorfer . In addition, it served as a quasi-template for the character of Terence Mann in Field of Dreams , played by James Earl Jones .

On September 6, 2013, the documentary Salinger, directed by Shane Salerno , was released in the United States. In 2017 the biographical film Rebel in The Rye by the American director Danny Strong with Nicholas Hoult in the leading role was released.

Works

  • The Catcher in the Rye (1951; German The Catcher in the Rye , among others in translations by Heinrich Böll and Eike Schönfeld ).
  • Nine Stories (1953; German nine stories , translated by Elisabeth Schnack and Heinrich and Annemarie Böll, 1966, and by Eike Schönfeld, 2012). In this:
    • A Perfect Day for Bananafish (first published in the New Yorker , January 31, 1948; Ger. A wonderful day for banana fish or An ideal day for banana fish );
    • Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut (first published in the New Yorker , March 20, 1948; German Uncle Wackelpeter in Connecticut and Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut );
    • Just Before the War with the Eskimos (first published in the New Yorker , June 5, 1948; German shortly before the war against the Eskimos );
    • The Laughing Man (first published in the New Yorker , March 19, 1949; German The Laughing Man );
    • Down at the Dinghy (first published in Harper's Magazine in April 1949; Ger. Down at the boat or Am Dingi );
    • For Esmé - with Love and Squalor (first published in the New Yorker , April 8, 1950; German For Esmé with love and rubbish or For Esmé - in love and misery );
    • Pretty Mouth and Green My Eyes (first published in New Yorker , 1951; German Pretty Mouth, green my eyes or Pretty Mouth, green eyes );
    • De Daumier-Smith's Blue Period (first published in the World Review , May 1952; Eng. The blue period of Mr. de Daumier-Smith or De Daumier's blue period );
    • Teddy (first published in the New Yorker , January 31, 1953; German Teddy ).
  • Franny and Zooey (1961; Ger. Franny and Zooey ). First published as:
    • Franny ( The New Yorker , 1955);
    • Zooey ( The New Yorker , 1957).
  • Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963; dt. Lifts the roof beam, carpenters and Seymour are introduced , translated by Annemarie Böll; also Lifts on the roof beams, Carpenters and Seymour, an introduction , translated by Eike Schönfeld , 2013), two novellas, first published as:
    • Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters (in The New Yorker , 1955);
    • Seymour: An Introduction (in The New Yorker , 1959).
  • Hapworth 16, 1924 , part of the Glass Family series (published June 19, 1965 in the New Yorker )
  • Three Early Stories (2014); dt. The young people. Three stories , translated by Eike Schönfeld, with an afterword by Thomas Glavinic . Piper, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-492-05698-4 . In this:
    • The Young Folks (1940; German The Young People );
    • Go see Eddie (1940; Eng. Go to Eddie );
    • Once a Week Won't Kill You (1944; Eng. Once a week won't kill you ).

literature

  • Paul Alexander: Salinger. A biography. Renaissance Books, Los Angeles 1999, ISBN 1-58063-080-4 .
  • Eberhard Alsen: A readers guide to JD Salinger. Greenwood Press, Westport 2002, ISBN 0-313-31078-5 .
  • Frédéric Beigbeder : Oona & Salinger. Novel. Translated from the French by Tobias Scheffel . Piper, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-492-05415-7 .
  • Peter Freese : J. D. Salingers Nine Stories: An Interpretation of Early Glass Stories. In: Paul G. Buchloh u. a. (Ed.): American stories from Hawthorne to Salinger · Interpretations (= Kiel contributions to English and American studies , vol. 6). Karl Wachholtz Verlag, Neumünster 1968, pp. 242-283.
  • Peter Freese : Jerome David Salinger. In: Ders .: The American Short Story after 1945 · Salinger · Malamud · Baldwin · Purdy · Barth. Athenäum Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 1974, ISBN 3-7610-1816-9 , pp. 97-179.
  • Sarah Graham: JD Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye. Routledge, London / New York 2007.
  • Ian Hamilton : Looking for JD Salinger. Limes-Verlag, Berlin 1989, ISBN 3-8090-2275-6 .
  • Joyce Maynard: Dance Lessons. My year with Salinger. Piper, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-492-04129-9 .
  • Joanna Rakoff : Dear Mr. Salinger. Translated by Sabine Schwenk. Knaus, Munich 2015.
  • Margaret A. Salinger: Dream Catcher. A memoir. Washington Square Press, New York 2000, ISBN 0-671-04282-3 .
  • David Shields , Shane Salerno : Salinger. One life. Translation of Yamin von Rauch. Droemer, Munich 2015, ISBN 978-3-426-27637-2 .
  • Kenneth Slawenski: The hidden life of JD Salinger. Rogner & Bernhard, Berlin 2012, ISBN 978-3-95403-006-4 .
  • Jason P. Steed (Ed.): The Catcher in the Rye: New Essays. Lang, New York 2002. ISBN 0-8204-5729-9 .
  • Pamela Hunt Steinle: In Cold Fear: The Catcher in the Rye Censorship Controversies and Postwar American Character. Ohio State University Press, Columbus 2000, ISBN 0-8142-0848-7 .
  • Klaus W. Vowe: JD Salinger: Just Before the War with the Eskimos. In: Michael Hanke (Ed.): Interpretations. American Short Stories of the 20th Century (= Reclams Universal Library , No. 17506). Reclam, Stuttgart 1998, ISBN 3-15-017506-2 , pp. 138-145.

Web links

Commons : JD Salinger  - collection of images, videos and audio files
Wikiquote: Jerome David Salinger  - Quotes

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Writer JD Salinger has died. January 28, 2010; Archived from the original on January 31, 2010 ; Retrieved January 28, 2010 .
  2. ^ The Genealogy of Richard L. Aronoff. Aronoff.com, accessed October 2, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Donald Fiene: EBSCOhost: JD Salinger. (No longer available online.) In: EBSCO Publishing Service Selection Page. November 24, 2010, archived from the original on July 20, 2012 ; accessed on October 2, 2017 (English). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / web.ebscohost.com
  4. ^ John Skow: Books: Sonny . Ed .: Time . September 15, 1961 ( online [accessed October 2, 2017]).
  5. ↑ Kenneth Slawenski: Books - Excerpt - 'JD Salinger: A Life'. The New York Times , February 10, 2011, archived from the original on April 3, 2015 ; accessed on October 2, 2017 (English).
  6. ^ Robert Gluck: JD Salinger and the Holocaust. the algemeiner, April 27, 2014, accessed October 2, 2017 .
  7. ^ Paul Alexander: Salinger: A Biography . Renaissance, Los Angeles 1999, ISBN 1-58063-080-4 , pp. 32 .
  8. ↑ Weltschmerz im Getreidefeld ( Memento from April 18, 2005 in the Internet Archive ) in: Wiener Zeitung from July 13, 2001
  9. ↑ The legend lives, the labels stick . In: Literaturkritik.de , No. 6, June 1999.
  10. ^ Salinger v. Random House, US Court of Appeals 2nd Circuit, No 86-7957, January 29, 1987.
  11. ^ E. Alsen, JD Salinger and the Nazis. 2018, ISBN 0-299-31570-3 , p. 83.
  12. ^ JD Salinger in Franconia by Eberhard Alsen
  13. ^ Margaret Salinger: Dream Catcher. A memoir . Washington Square Press, New York 2000, ISBN 0-671-04281-5 , p. 55.
  14. ^ Tobias Posset: JD Salinger and the liberation of the Kaufering IV concentration camp , under: buergervereinigung-landsberg.de ;
    Anton Posset: The American Army discovers the Holocaust , at: buergervereinigung-landsberg.de ;
    Anton Posset: The end of the Holocaust in Bavaria , at: buergervereinigung-landsberg.de .
  15. ↑ Original film recording of the liberation of the concentration camp Kaufering IV on April 27, 1945 by the US armed forces. The seven-minute documentary (from Anton Posset's archive, handed over by a liberator of the 103rd Infantry Division) was made on the orders of US Colonel E. Seiler. The original film by the Allied US Forces. Steven Spielberg recreated the scenes in his film Band of Brothers (2000) .
  16. ↑ Joseph Hanimann: Where one would always stay young . In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , May 20, 2014, p. 14.
  17. ↑ Bernd Noack: Gunzenhausen's secret hero . In: faz.net , September 22, 2009.
  18. ^ RIP JD Salinger. Obituary for JD Salinger on avclub.com .
  19. ↑ On the intertextual references between Salinger's novel and Burns' poetry, see Luther L. Luedke: JD Salinger and Robert Burns: "The Catcher in the Rye." In: Modern Fiction Studies , Vol. 16, no. 2 (Summer, 1970), pp. 198-201. Accessible online for a fee on JSTOR at [1] . Retrieved February 12, 2012.
  20. ^ David Johnson: Play It in the Closet: the Return Farewell of JD Salinger. In: Indiana Public Media , Aug. 7, 2008.
  21. ↑ Kenneth Slawenski: The hidden life of JD Salinger. Rogner & Bernhard, Berlin 2012.
  22. ↑ On this section , see Time , February 15, 2010, p. 48.
  23. ^ The Associated Press: JD Salinger's House Burns . In: The New York Times . October 21, 1992, ISSN  0362-4331 ( nytimes.com [accessed February 22, 2020]).
  24. ↑ Richard Kämmerlings: The kingdom of heaven belongs to children and fools. In: faz.net , January 29, 2010.
  25. ^ Alison Flood: JD Salinger's unseen writings to be published, family confirms . In: The Guardian . February 1, 2019, ISSN  0261-3077 ( theguardian.com [accessed April 26, 2019]).
  26. ↑ Willi Winkler : The man in the bunker. In: Süddeutsche Zeitung , April 11, 2015, p. 18.
personal data
SURNAME Salinger, JD
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Salinger, Jerome David (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American writer
DATE OF BIRTH January 1, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH New York City
DATE OF DEATH January 27, 2010
Place of death Cornish , New Hampshire