Background information

About J. D. Salinger

Jerome David Salinger (1919-2010), the author of The Catcher in the Rye, was an American writer of novels and short stories. He grew up in Manhattan, New York, and attended public schools there. When Salinger was thirteen years old, his family moved, and he enrolled in the McBurney private school, where he had trouble fitting in. At McBurney, Salinger was the manager of the fencing team – an experience which he transferred to Holden in The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger later attended a military academy, where he began writing stories. 

Salinger then enrolled into New York University but dropped out and agreed to work in the meat business, encouraged by his father. Salinger’s experience in the Austrian slaughterhouses influenced his decision to become a vegetarian later on. After dropping out of another college in Pennsylvania, Salinger attended the Columbia University School of General Studies, where he got remarked as a short story writer. 

During World War II, Salinger started submitting short stories to magazines. The character Ho...