Jerome David Selinger

Jerome David Salinger (1919–2010) was an American writer best known for his landmark novel The Catcher in the Rye. Born in New York City on January 1, 1919, Salinger grew up in Manhattan and briefly attended New York University and Columbia University, where he studied writing. During World War II, he served in the U.S. Army and took part in the D-Day invasion of Normandy, an experience that deeply shaped his life and work.

His first and only novel, The Catcher in the Rye (1951), featuring the rebellious teenager Holden Caulfield, became an immediate bestseller and an enduring classic, capturing the voice of adolescent alienation. Following its success, Salinger published several acclaimed collections of short stories, including Nine Stories (1953), Franny and Zooey (1961), and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). Many of these works centered on the fictional Glass family.

Disturbed by fame and constant public attention, Salinger gradually withdrew from literary society. In 1953, he moved to Cornish, New Hampshire, where he lived in near-total seclusion for the rest of his life. He published his final original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980. Salinger died on January 27, 2010, at the age of 91, leaving a lasting literary legacy.