What you might not know about Salinger

A few days ago, I watched the documentary “Salinger”–about the life of J.D. Salinger. It’s become overly common these days to say that Catcher in the Rye changed my life, but whatever–it changed my life, as a writer and a person. Before I read that book, I didn’t know writers and characters could be so real. Most of the stuff we read in school was so “proper”; not Catcher in the Rye. That book helped me develop my own voice, best described as “snarky” by my mother (hi, mom!).

Needless to say, I was excited about the documentary. And it didn’t disappoint. I learned so much about Salinger that I didn’t know before. Here are some interesting tidbits:

• Salinger dated Oona O’Neill, the daughter of playwright Eugene O’Neill. When he went off to war, she took up with Charlie Chaplin. While he was away, he found out she married him
• While at war, he experienced and witnessed great atrocities, many of which contributed to the theme of loss of innocence in many of his works
• He started writing Catcher in the Rye while at war. One of his fellow soldiers took this picture of him writing it:
  
• He married a German national, saying that they were so connected that they were telepathic with each other. Marrying a Nazi was considered extremely strange since he was so committed to fighting for his country. The marriage ended up being annulled
• His first success was the publication of a short story in the New Yorker. “A Perfect Day for a Bananafish” is about a war veteran who befriends a little girl and takes her to catch a bananafish. The story ends with him taking his own life with a handgun
• Before his success with the bananafish story, the New Yorker had rejected him many times
  
• He met 14-year-old Jean Miller at a beach and struck up a friendship. He was determined to marry her one day. He stayed in touch with her while writing Catcher in the Rye, sharing his anxiety about it
  
• Catcher in the Rye became known as an anti-establishment masterpiece. They say in the film that it’s like he spent 30 years writing it because everything in his life was funneled into it. It embodied his hatred of all things phony, including wealth and fame
• He wanted to publish parts of it in the New Yorker, but got this response: “The vote here went, sadly, against your novel.” Little Brown ended up publishing it in 1951
• Salinger refused to go on book tours or TV shows. He wouldn’t do interviews. He didn’t even want his picture on the book cover. He thought all that should matter was the work. He disappeared into the New Hampshire mountains, in a town called Cornish
• He kept his relationship with Jean. It wasn’t physical until she kissed him in a taxi and they spent the night together. It bothered him that she was a virgin. The next day, his plane flight was canceled and she was happy they’d have more time together. According to her, he saw that happiness and realized he had to end things. He couldn’t have something in his life more important than his writing
• He met Claire Douglas at a party. She inspired the character Franny. They married in 1955 and had 2 children: Margaret and Matthew. He constructed a private shack on his property and went there to write, alone. He was obsessed with his stories about the Glass family, to the point of ignoring his real family. Claire ended up filing for divorce
  
• His last publication was in 1965
• Joyce Maynard was a young writer who was featured on the cover of the New York Times Magazine at the age of 18. Salinger wrote letters to her, warning her about fame. She went to meet him and ended up living with him. She described a routine of eating uncooked peas and meditating before going their separate ways to write the majority of their days. He wore a canvas jumpsuit to write, like a uniform, as if he was a soldier, “waging war at the typewriter.” Their relationship ended when he said he didn’t want more children
• Joyce found out that he had many letter relationships with young–always young–women. When Joyce came to visit him later to ask what the purpose of their relationship had been, he blew up at her and said, “The problem with you is you love the world”
• A reporter managed to arrange a brief meeting with him, during which he said he was still writing and that his current work was “of far more significance than anything I ever wrote about Holden.” He said he thought writing Holden was a mistake because it meant he couldn’t live a normal life and his children suffered
• According to the film, Salinger dictated that several unseen works will be published between 2015 and 2020
• He passed away in 2010 at age 91. This is one of the last known images of him:
  

I found all of this very interesting. As much as Salinger said that his writing should be about the work, not about him as a person, readers will always wonder about the creator of the words they love. I’ve Googled more than a few of my favorite writers to see if they’re married, if they have kids. I’ve wondered where they live, what their writing habits are, what their non-writing habits are. That curiosity is normal. That said, it’s not “unfair” that he withheld; it’s his choice, of course. Inquiring minds will always want to know, though; and they’ll be even more driven when someone refuses to be known.