Salinger: A Biography [Hardcover]

Paul Alexander (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1999

J.D. Salinger: A Biography offers the first full-length popular account of American literature's great recluse, giving new insights into the author of The Catcher In the Rye. Salinger, was one of the most successful writers of American short fiction---the quintessential New Yorker writer---when he was only in his twenties and thirties. Then, mysteriously, he withdrew from the world, retiring to a cabin in New Hampshire where he practices Zen. Though Salinger has said that he continues to write, he has not published since the early 1960s

Paul Alexander, bestselling biographer and journalist, has carefully researched and masterfully described Salinger the human being and Salinger the icon. He answers the numerous questions that encircle the life and legacy of J.D. Salinger. Why did critics become unreceptive to Salinger's stories as he grew older? Why are the important women in his life so much younger than he? Why does he sometimes seem to be playing peek-a-boo with his admirers? If he truly wants to be left alone, why does he leave so many clues? Why have his books been linked with famously psychotic young people such as the assassin of John Lennon and the would-be assassin of President Reagan?

Alexander draws upon published sources and personal interviews with over forty important literary figures such as George Plimpton, Gay Talese, and Tom Wolfe. He traces the writer's early years living on the periphery of genteel society in Manhattan's Upper West Side. He follows Salinger's failures and successes as a student, his harrowing experiences during World War II, and his romances---including one with teenager Oona O'Neill, who married Charlie Chaplin. He connects Salinger's life to Salinger's work through detailed commentary on his writings, and he gives the only complete overview ever written of the last thirty years of the writer's life-a history of attempts to escape attention combined with a coy desire to remain in the public eye

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

So averse to any kind of publicity that he went to court to prevent a previous biography, J.D. Salinger will undoubtedly be distressed by this book as well, especially since author Paul Alexander suggests that the writer's reclusiveness might be just a shrewd ploy to pique readers' interest and maintain good sales for his books. The Catcher in the Rye hardly needs that kind of help; the novel has been hugely popular since its initial release in 1951, though even then Salinger found the publication process distasteful. What made him abnormally sensitive to the stresses of public life? Readers won't find out here, although Alexander capably narrates the scant biographical material available: Salinger's birth in 1919; his aimless, academically underachieving youth; military service in some of World War II's grimmest battles; two failed marriages; self-exile from publishing at the height of his fame; the 1973 affair with teenage writer Joyce Maynard; and her arguably revengeful 1998 memoir. It would probably please Salinger that the psychological forces that power his creativity and eccentricity remain a mystery. Alexander notes the writer's near-exclusive focus on young people in his fiction, as well as the fact that Salinger's romantic relations have almost all been with very young women, but he can't really explain these facts. There just isn't enough information, although some enjoyably gossipy quotes from various interviews (ranging from usual literary suspects like George Plimpton to Salinger's former housekeeper) keep the book quite readable. --Wendy Smith

From Library Journal

This biography's dustjacket features a blurry photo of an aging J.D. Salinger superimposed on a picture of the young author of The Catcher in the Rye. While designed to capture the elusive quality of the notoriously reclusive writer, the jacket also reflects the book's fuzziness and skimpy feel. Although Alexander, who wrote a biography of Sylvia Plath, interviewed a number of people and used the research files of Ian Hamilton (In Search of J.D. Salinger) and the newly opened New Yorker archive at the New York Public Library, the result is primarily a cut-and-paste pastiche of secondary sources. This is not entirely Alexander's fault; like Hamilton, whose attempt to publish a biography was thwarted in the courts by Salinger, Alexander was unable to quote directly from Salinger's letters, and of course the man himself has long refused to be interviewed. Still, Alexander has drawn an eerie portrait of an increasingly eccentric writer whose attempts to maintain his privacy is actuallyAin Alexander's opinionAa manipulative way of promoting himself and his books.AWilda Williams, "Library Journal"
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 352 pages
• Publisher: Renaissance Books; 1 edition (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1580630804
• ISBN-13: 978-1580630801
• Product Dimensions: 9.7 x 6.3 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,880,463 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Paul Alexander is the editor of the essay collection Ariel Ascending: Writings About Sylvia Plath and the author of Rough Magic, a biography of Plath; Boulevard of Broken Dreams: The Life, Times, and Legend of James Dean, the bestseller that has been published in 10 countries; Death and Disaster: The Rise of the Warhol Empire and the Race For Andy's Millions; Man of the People: The Life of John McCain; The Candidate, a chronicle of John Kerry's presidential campaign; and Machiavelli's Shadow: The Rise and Fall of Karl Rove. His bestseller Murdered was published by Rosetta Books as a Kindle Single.

A former reporter for Time, Alexander has published journalism in The New York Times, The New York Times Magazine, New York, The Nation, The Village Voice, Salon, Worth, The New York Observer, George, Cosmopolitan, More, Interview, ARTnews, Mirabella, Premiere, Out, The Advocate, Travel & Leisure, The Los Angeles Times Book Review, Biography, Men's Journal, Best Life, The New York Review of Books, and Rolling Stone. In Europe, his journalism has appeared in Paris Match, Gente, and The Guardian. He contributes to The Daily Beast.

Shane Salerno's much-anticipated feature documentary Salinger, due out this fall, is based on Alexander's biography of J.D. Salinger, which has recently been republished. Alexander wrote Good Night, Dorothy Kilgallen, an original screenplay about Kilgallen's investigation of the Kennedy assassination, for Twentieth Century Fox.

Alexander is the author of the plays Strangers in the Land of Canaan and Edge, which he directed. Developed at The Actors Studio, Edge, the critically acclaimed one-woman play about Sylvia Plath, ran in New York, where Angelica Torn received an Outer Critics Circle Award nomination; London; and venues in other cities, among them Miami, where New Times named Torn Best Actress. Edge toured Australia and New Zealand and enjoyed a second run in New York. In all, Torn performed Edge 400 times. Alexander is also the director of a British revival of Ariel Dorfman's play Death and the Maiden; New York Stories, an evening of one-act plays by Paul Kane that ran in New York; and Brothers in Arms, a documentary film about John Kerry and Vietnam (First Run Features).

Alexander is a graduate of The Writers' Workshop at The University of Iowa and a member of PEN American Center, the Authors Guild, and the Playwrights and Directors Unit of The Actors Studio. In the fall of 2002, he was a Fellow at the Hoover Institution at Stanford University. He lives in New York City.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

37 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A Tabloid Expose in Book Form (A True Shame), December 31, 1999

By 

Ted Watanabe - See all my reviews

This review is from: Salinger: A Biography (Hardcover)

Paul Alexander, the author of this biography, may have a genuine admiration for J.D. Salinger, but he clearly has no true understanding of the man. This biographer's approach to Salinger's life more closely resembles a tabloid publication's expose of a pedophile priest. Aside from the differences that any group of people can have over the interpretation of any story, it seems apparent that Alexander has no clear understanding of the classic literature that Salinger loved. He lists the authors that Salinger admired, yet doesn't seem to have an awareness of the works and how they're integrated into many of Salinger's stories. The most horrifying revelation of this biography, for me, is the realization that many people especially this biographer have misinterpreted the story "Teddy." Salinger chooses his words and titles painstakingly carefully for a reason. Alexander's conclusions (as well as the public's), that Teddy kills his sister in the story, shows either his lack of awareness of what's going on or maybe he never read the story. Eventhough, the story "Teddy" was extremely successful, Salinger's disappointment to the public's reaction of the story is apparent in his story character's and alter ego, Buddy Glass', comments in "Seymour an Introduction," " ... few years ago, I published an exceptionally Haunting, Memorable, unpleasantly controversial, and thoroughly unsucessful short story about a 'gifted' little boy... " These comments alone shows Salinger's disappointment in the fact that "people just don't get it." Though, Salinger needs no defenders, I believe his fascination with young people (including and especially young women) manifests from a pure source. It is his awareness that people are most whole when they're young and not old. It is his awareness of the time in peoples lives before they accept the limits, lies, and illusions of huge institutions and the infuences of self motivated family members and friends. It is Salinger's awareness of a time when the joy of life exists in experiencing and not acquiring. This book has some interesting facts that many people may find engaging and interesting. It is an easy enough book to read and enjoy. However, the best thing you can do if you truly want to know J.D. Salinger is to just read the books he wrote. And if you want more.. Read the books Salinger read... Rilke, Shelley, Fitzgerald, Keats, etc.....

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The Mystery Of J.D. Salinger, October 4, 2003

By 

W. C HALL (Newport, OR USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Salinger: A Biography (Paperback)

Many of those who have commented on this work find author Paul Alexander to be hostile to his subject. That's not my read of it; to me, he seems more to be puzzled and saddened by the way Salinger has chosen to live his life. It could be argued that Alexander doesn't really understand Salinger; but can anyone really claim otherwise?

With Salinger, his family and past associates unwilling to cooperate on any kind of biography, Alexander has had to make do with the rather skimpy public record the world's most famous recluse has left behind. He seems to have put together as full a life story as possible, given these limitations. The perception of hostility may come from the fact that Alexander quotes extensively from the reaction of critics to Salinger's work--and sadly, for those who love it (including this reviewer)--the majority of the critics were negative about it. And Salinger's hostility to most of those in the publishing world is well-documented.

Perhaps Alexander's most intriguing contention is that Salinger, for all his public protestations of a desire to be left alone, actually wants the attention he generates. He says it's kind of a cat-and-mouse game with the public designed to maintain interest in his works.

If you're interested in learning as much detail as you can about Salinger's childhood, education, romances, buisiness dealings, and the like, this is probably the best book we'll have for some time.--William C. Hall

9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointing, November 15, 1999

By 

Hapworth (Palma de Mallorca, Spain) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Salinger: A Biography (Hardcover)

Yes, I am a huge Salinger fan. I should state that from the outset. But unlike most Salinger fans, I do not believe that J.D. should be free from criticism. I wanted to admire Alexander's courage to tackle the Salinger mystique head-on. Some of his assertions, I believe, are right on the mark. Salinger IS egocentric and very much aware that he's securing literary fame (and securing continuing sales of his book) by not publishing. And I do feel that people have been too soft on Salinger. Ian Hamilton, in his previous book on Salinger, treated the author with kid gloves, eschewing details of J.D.'s private life. Alexander, however, is not afraid to ask tough--even if ultimately unanswered--questions. Why did Salinger stop publishing? Was he tired of the critical abuse? (Salinger was not treated with kid gloves by literary critics and "Hapworth 16, 1924" was greeted with universal displeasure when it appeared in the June 1965 New Yorker) Why, as one of the reviewers above noted, does Salinger toy so much with the public, leave so many clues? If Salinger wishes to be undisturbed, why does he purposely draw attention to himself.

Sadly, though, Alexander's tough assertions, which the reader encounters and completely digests by page 26, give way to tepid biography, made only more tepid by the fact that the same material had been handled much more deftly in Hamilton's previous, respectful book on Salinger. In short, there's little new information here. Alexander mentions newly opened archives from the New Yorker, but one begins to wonder how much new, quality material there actually was. And so, with little to draw upon, Alexander turns to sensationalism to see his book through.

Perhaps most disturbing is Alexander's shameless attempt to make a connection between Salinger's emphasis on young people in his fiction and a personal penchant for young girls. Alexander even goes so far as to link Salinger's name with Lewis Carroll. True, Salinger has dated younger women. But to link him with a literary figure whose name has become synonomous with pedophilia? This sort of stuff is more suited, say, for a daytime talk show.

We live in a tabloid world. It should come as little surprise that one writer's desire to live unmolested by the media--whether the motive is sincere or not--matters little. Salinger: A Biography will make the perfect holiday gift for those who like their biographies juicy!