J. D. Salinger’s Lovable Creations

How do you solve a problem like J. D. Salinger?

Born a century ago this year, the author of The Catcher in the Rye (1951) and Franny and Zooey (1961) was a man of considerable contradictions. Let us begin with some bare facts: One of two children born to Sol and Marie Salinger, Salinger had a young adulthood, though free of major catastrophes, that was sufficiently unsettled to result in his being enrolled in Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania. After the completion of a term in the army during World War II — a source of significant trauma, according to his biographers — Salinger married three times, but two of the unions failed. The first, to a German woman named Sylvia, ended under mysterious circumstances; the second, to a British woman named Claire, ended in divorce.

About the Author

Peter Tonguette

Peter Tonguette is the Life & Arts editor of the Washington Examiner magazine and is writing a biography of Peter Bogdanovich.

How do you solve a problem like J. D. Salinger?

Born a century ago this year, the author of The Catcher in the Rye (1951) and Franny and Zooey (1961) was a man of considerable contradictions. Let us begin with some bare facts: One of two children born to Sol and Marie Salinger, Salinger had a young adulthood, though free of major catastrophes, that was sufficiently unsettled to result in his being enrolled in Valley Forge Military Academy in Pennsylvania. After the completion of a term in the army during World War II — a source of significant trauma, according to his biographers — Salinger married three times, but two of the unions failed. The first, to a German woman named Sylvia, ended under mysterious circumstances; the second, to a British woman named Claire, ended in divorce.