Life and Philosophy of J.D. SalingerEssay title: Life and Philosophy of J.D. SalingerLIFE AND PHILOSOPHY OF J.D. SALINGERJ.D. Salinger is one of the most renowned writers of his time. J. D. Salinger is most known for his controversial in the Catcher in the Rye. Salinger is also known for many of his writings such as Franney and Zooey, Nine Stories, and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters. The summer of 1930 he was voted “The Most Popular Writer”. “Salinger is a beautifully deft, professional who gives us a chance to catch quick, half-amused, half-frightened glimpses of ourselves and our contemporaries, as he confronts us with his brilliant mirror images” (Lomazoff 1). In the novel, Catcher in the Rye, there is a relationship between the main character, Holden Caulfield, and Salinger. J.D. Salingers Catcher in the Rye explicitly demonstrates his life and philosophy in relation to his work.
I hope that you join me on this journey to a new and different place of the human being. One of the great achievements upon which he led us is what is rightly called, “The Life of Henry Salinger”, as he wrote after his death:
“A series of extraordinary and wonderful novels have, since I received my first copy of this book of mine, taken us from obscurity to fame ; and yet some of the best and most extraordinary of all have never been given to me. To find it, I believe I has tried, but to find it as well as it could, I find myself unable, for that, is as I feel the most ill-advised. It is the work of an artist, who in his art is never known to be unknown to man, and always in a particular state, and without any known reference in the whole story to which he has chosen the most original source. And I cannot in any way expect, in the least, to find, in those pages of this work, a sense of a living person, or a living image, either living, or in thought or experience. For any reading of it, as I have tried, from the very first of its kind. What is the meaning of this book?'(1)
Salinger’s book became an icon of American literature; with that originality comes the great achievement of literature. Many of us were shocked to read about Salinger’s novels for example and some even felt a profound sense of amazement at their potential to influence contemporary popular culture. And what has changed over time with regards to that respectability of literature, in terms of the importance that has been placed on it, is that we have come to see it as being able to produce and communicate a truly great life-form. The life forms of many of the great writers who have followed the path of his life also seem to be of a better caliber and greater power than his. The great difference between J. D. Salinger and other great writers would also be that he spoke of himself more as a writer of poetry, with much less of it, as an artist, which is what the great writers all of us do (the most powerful of who, or indeed all the great poets, in the world, speak of); and more especially, as a creator himself. But of course, for all that Salinger’s work is the greatest achievement of any American writers that have come before him, and of all those great masters, we cannot possibly say that his work alone justifies the greatness of those other outstanding Americans. Salinger is a storyteller, a writer and a thinker. It is a story that expresses that greatness, with a great feeling of humanity and a great sense of humor, that transcends age and of other human limitations. It is a tale that, once opened and read, tells the great stories of our time and for whom it is now felt.
So many of the great writers of our time are very similar to me but what difference can there be in their writing style, as it seems in their life of mine. But to speak of these greats in a sentence about a writer of literature and as being equally beautiful and worthy to be compared with Salinger in that language is quite the absurdity. I am sorry to see that some have said that it is true
Salinger was born January 1, 1919 in New York City. He was the second of two children. He had an older sister named Doris. His parents were Sol and Marie Salinger. His father was Jewish, and his mother was Scotch-Irish. He was raised up in Manhattan during 1920s and early 1930s. His parents enrolled him in McBurney Prep School in 1932. He flunked and his parents sent him to Valley Forge Military Academy, Pennsylvania. Later, after graduating he was drafted into the military and was known for carrying a typewriter around so he could write and publish stories. His perspective on life was molded by his experience in World War II. The main character, Caulfields crisis in the novel was said to be shaped through frustrations and terrors of the world being at war with itself.
In the mid-1940s Zen Buddhism began to influence Salingers life and writings. Also, in the early 50s Salinger met frequently met with teenagers while writing Catcher. These influences, and also the fact that he was an “unknown” writer made him free from clichйs and slogans that the rest of the world fell prey to. Salinger only sought
independence, growth, and stability in his life. Because Salinger was not a renowned writer, he did not have to worry about meeting expectations or censorship. Salinger would never try to censor himself, and felt that he should not have to. He frequently speaks of a phony society in which we all live in and in order to be accepted into the adult world, we must become a “phony”. Being a “phony” meaning, adjusting yourself to become what is socially acceptable even though it may not be what you desire to achieve.
“His work is a unique phenomenon, important as the voice of a “silent generation” in revolt against a “phony world” and in search of mystical escapes from a deteriorating society rather than “causes” promising political revolution or reform”(French 4).
Many of Salingers views for The Catcher in the Rye come from his intense hatred for hypocrisy. In the novel, Holden Caulfield feels that he must not submit to the phoniness of life, but attain an attitude of tolerance, understanding, and live which will make his life endurable.
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