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Lisa of Troy's Reviews > Salinger
Salinger
by
by
“Are you under psychiatric care?�
“[…] I’m not a counselor; I’m a fiction writer.�
-JD Salinger
When this book stuck to the facts, it was rather enjoyable, but it should have left the wild speculation and armchair psychology to the internet sleuths and tabloids.
One of my favorite stories involves JD Salinger’s college education. In September 1938, Salinger enrolled in Ursinus College. While Salinger was earning decent grades, he said, “I’m not satisfied. This is not what I want…Charlie, I have to be a writer. I have to. Going here is not going to help me.� He wanted to learn to write better, and Ursinus wasn’t going to take him there. Salinger found a program at Columbia that would take him to the next level, and he didn’t return for a second term at Ursinus.
In January, Salinger took 2 courses at Columbia:
1) A poetry course
2) A short story course
Salinger had to take the short story course twice. While taking the short story course the first time, Salinger was “lazy� and “shut off� because of “psychological problems.�
Fun Fact: Salinger and Ernest Hemingway met a few times with Hemingway even providing some feedback on Salinger’s writing.
But then Salinger ends up withdrawing from public life. No worries for the authors of this biography! This is where the biography left the land of reality and entered into the world of creative writing.
Two entire chapters were devoted to Joyce Maynard. Way back in 1972, Maynard is a student at Yale, and on April 23, 1972, New York Magazine featured one of her pieces as its cover story. This spurs JD Salinger to write to her, and a letter writing correspondence ensues. Maynard ends up moving in with Salinger over the summer. In her own words, “The moment I moved in, I could do very little right. He said to me the day I moved in, ‘You’re behaving like a teenager.’�
Yet, Ms. Maynard doesn’t return to Yale in the fall, forfeiting her spot and her scholarship. In 1973, Maynard also publishes a book, Looking Back, with Doubleday. She states, “Worried about Jerry, I decided not to promote the book.�
In March 1973, Salinger and Maynard break up over a disagreement about their future—Salinger doesn’t want to have more children while Maynard does.
After the break-up, Maynard returns to Salinger’s home (the house he shares with his two minor children), and she writes the name of their imagined child in the snow, and she calls Salinger over and over until he says, “Go away. Stop calling me. I have nothing to say to you.�
Almost three decades later, Ms. Maynard is writing a new book about her short relationship with Salinger. At this time, Salinger is in his late 70’s. Maynard ambushes Salinger at his home, showing up unannounced. Yes. That’s right. Maynard attacks a senior citizen at his home, the one place in the world where one should feel unconditionally safe. Sounds like someone needs to write “Boundaries� in her snow.
What is startingly missing is Salinger’s voice, his side. Painting Salinger as responsible for Maynard’s every life disappointment seems overly broad. I sincerely doubt Salinger unenrolled Maynard from Yale. What seems more likely is that Maynard knew her relationship with Salinger was on the rocks, and she wanted to do all she could to salvage it. She knowingly gave up Yale to pursue a relationship less than a year old. Big mistake.
Ms. Maynard should have harnessed her feelings into her literary work, reducing Salinger into just a fleeing memory.
Secondly, the biography mentions Salinger’s third wife, Colleen O’Neil. Readers are told next to nothing about her, and the authors present that Salinger just married her because he was getting old and needed a caregiver. Based on what evidence? Salinger certainly could have hired a nurse. Ethel Nelson, the babysitter, is quoted, “he couldn’t be alone and he couldn’t very well have a nurse or a person taking care of him in there and not be married.� Um……we just read two chapters about Joyce Maynard living with him while not married! Also, double um, when Salinger died, Colleen Salinger, his wife, along with his son became coexecutors of the JD Salinger Literary Trust. That doesn’t sound like “just a caretaker.�
The book states that unpublished Salinger materials will be released starting in 2015 through 2020. That hasn’t happened.
One last grievance—I know. I know—the citations are rubbish. A couple of times throughout the book, it is said that Salinger told Whit Burnett that he carried six chapters of The Catcher in the Rye with him while he served during World War II. However, there is no citation for this “fact.� Some of the citations would be difficult to verify. For example, “JD Salinger, letter to Whit Burnett, 1940.� Great. Where is this letter? Is it at The Firestone Library at Princeton? Tucked away at Harvard? Should a worldwide book hunt be initiated? I have planned an upcoming trip to Princeton, and I wanted to see the original source to see if it says the first six chapters or just six chapters. Personally, I believe the latter to be true as I have seen some of Salinger’s early Holden Caulfield stories that he later used in The Catcher in the Rye (and those stories don’t track with the first six chapters). Gee. It would be nice to have meaningful citations. Sigh.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text � $12 from Abebooks
Audiobook � Audible � 1 credit (Audible Premium Plus Annual � 24 Credits Membership Plan $229.50 or rough $9.56 per credit)
Connect With Me!
“[…] I’m not a counselor; I’m a fiction writer.�
-JD Salinger
When this book stuck to the facts, it was rather enjoyable, but it should have left the wild speculation and armchair psychology to the internet sleuths and tabloids.
One of my favorite stories involves JD Salinger’s college education. In September 1938, Salinger enrolled in Ursinus College. While Salinger was earning decent grades, he said, “I’m not satisfied. This is not what I want…Charlie, I have to be a writer. I have to. Going here is not going to help me.� He wanted to learn to write better, and Ursinus wasn’t going to take him there. Salinger found a program at Columbia that would take him to the next level, and he didn’t return for a second term at Ursinus.
In January, Salinger took 2 courses at Columbia:
1) A poetry course
2) A short story course
Salinger had to take the short story course twice. While taking the short story course the first time, Salinger was “lazy� and “shut off� because of “psychological problems.�
Fun Fact: Salinger and Ernest Hemingway met a few times with Hemingway even providing some feedback on Salinger’s writing.
But then Salinger ends up withdrawing from public life. No worries for the authors of this biography! This is where the biography left the land of reality and entered into the world of creative writing.
Two entire chapters were devoted to Joyce Maynard. Way back in 1972, Maynard is a student at Yale, and on April 23, 1972, New York Magazine featured one of her pieces as its cover story. This spurs JD Salinger to write to her, and a letter writing correspondence ensues. Maynard ends up moving in with Salinger over the summer. In her own words, “The moment I moved in, I could do very little right. He said to me the day I moved in, ‘You’re behaving like a teenager.’�
Yet, Ms. Maynard doesn’t return to Yale in the fall, forfeiting her spot and her scholarship. In 1973, Maynard also publishes a book, Looking Back, with Doubleday. She states, “Worried about Jerry, I decided not to promote the book.�
In March 1973, Salinger and Maynard break up over a disagreement about their future—Salinger doesn’t want to have more children while Maynard does.
After the break-up, Maynard returns to Salinger’s home (the house he shares with his two minor children), and she writes the name of their imagined child in the snow, and she calls Salinger over and over until he says, “Go away. Stop calling me. I have nothing to say to you.�
Almost three decades later, Ms. Maynard is writing a new book about her short relationship with Salinger. At this time, Salinger is in his late 70’s. Maynard ambushes Salinger at his home, showing up unannounced. Yes. That’s right. Maynard attacks a senior citizen at his home, the one place in the world where one should feel unconditionally safe. Sounds like someone needs to write “Boundaries� in her snow.
What is startingly missing is Salinger’s voice, his side. Painting Salinger as responsible for Maynard’s every life disappointment seems overly broad. I sincerely doubt Salinger unenrolled Maynard from Yale. What seems more likely is that Maynard knew her relationship with Salinger was on the rocks, and she wanted to do all she could to salvage it. She knowingly gave up Yale to pursue a relationship less than a year old. Big mistake.
Ms. Maynard should have harnessed her feelings into her literary work, reducing Salinger into just a fleeing memory.
Secondly, the biography mentions Salinger’s third wife, Colleen O’Neil. Readers are told next to nothing about her, and the authors present that Salinger just married her because he was getting old and needed a caregiver. Based on what evidence? Salinger certainly could have hired a nurse. Ethel Nelson, the babysitter, is quoted, “he couldn’t be alone and he couldn’t very well have a nurse or a person taking care of him in there and not be married.� Um……we just read two chapters about Joyce Maynard living with him while not married! Also, double um, when Salinger died, Colleen Salinger, his wife, along with his son became coexecutors of the JD Salinger Literary Trust. That doesn’t sound like “just a caretaker.�
The book states that unpublished Salinger materials will be released starting in 2015 through 2020. That hasn’t happened.
One last grievance—I know. I know—the citations are rubbish. A couple of times throughout the book, it is said that Salinger told Whit Burnett that he carried six chapters of The Catcher in the Rye with him while he served during World War II. However, there is no citation for this “fact.� Some of the citations would be difficult to verify. For example, “JD Salinger, letter to Whit Burnett, 1940.� Great. Where is this letter? Is it at The Firestone Library at Princeton? Tucked away at Harvard? Should a worldwide book hunt be initiated? I have planned an upcoming trip to Princeton, and I wanted to see the original source to see if it says the first six chapters or just six chapters. Personally, I believe the latter to be true as I have seen some of Salinger’s early Holden Caulfield stories that he later used in The Catcher in the Rye (and those stories don’t track with the first six chapters). Gee. It would be nice to have meaningful citations. Sigh.
The Green Light at the End of the Dock (How much I spent):
Hardcover Text � $12 from Abebooks
Audiobook � Audible � 1 credit (Audible Premium Plus Annual � 24 Credits Membership Plan $229.50 or rough $9.56 per credit)
Connect With Me!
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Reading Progress
February 22, 2025
–
Started Reading
February 22, 2025
– Shelved
March 13, 2025
–
Finished Reading
