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=Jerome David Salinger by Robert Benjamin Gibson= J.D. Salinger is an American writer who has seen more than any man ever dreams. Salinger was born on January 1, 1919 in New York City. He attended McBurney School before transferring to Valley Forge Military Academy where he would graduate. In his life, Salinger attended 3 colleges but failed to graduate from any of them. He attended a short story class taught by Whit Burnett at Columbia University. After attending this class, Salinger published his first short story, “The Young Folks”. In 1942, he was drafted into the military where he would participate in the invasion of Normandy, now known as D-Day. After the completion of the war, Salinger began to build a small career in the short story business. He finally crossed the threshold with his most famous work, “The Catcher in the Rye”. This book was named to the Book of the Month Club. It would later be named to the Top 25 leading best sellers of the century. Salinger would continue his career until 1965 when he quit all together. Salinger’s career was focused on post war concerns of anxious young people growing up in a world without clear guiding values. His stories became popular amongst the post war population giving him fame and money. He became a modern day Fitzgerald because everyone could relate to his stories. This style of writing became known as the Post-Modernist period. “Writers during this period were responding to what they perceived as the threatening implications of the post-war world, in which whole populations had recently been exterminated and in which there existed the possibility of imminent nuclear destruction.”(Overview of J(erome) D(avid) Salinger, 5) Salinger’s views on the world are shown in his following of Zen Buddhism. This turn towards the followings of the Eastern World can be solely attributed to his experience in WWII. This as stated earlier led to his participation in the Post-Modernist period also. “Although Salinger’s world appears to be completely divided between the exploiters and their victims, a closer understanding of the author’s work reveals that he offers responses other than suicide to cruelty, betrayal and hostility-responses that involve spiritual approaches to life.(Overview of J(erome) D(avid) Salinger, 5) Although Salinger often focused on Western society’s downfalls, his main goal in writing was to find moral and religious enlightenment along with the possibility of love in the world. His disappointment in American society embodied many characteristics from past writers, most notably Mark Twain. This is said because he often showed his disappointment in American Society through his writing. He saw the west as a complete failure which led to his following of Eastern Cultures. This disappointment is shown most notably in his most famous work “The Catcher in the Rye”. “‘Life is a game, boy. Life is a game that one plays according to the rules.” “Yes sir I know it. I know it.” Game, my ass. Some game. If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it’s a game, all right-I’ll admit that. But if you get on the other side, where there aren’t any hot-shots, then what’s a game about it? Nothing. No game.”(The Catcher in the Rye) This shows his views on the hierarchy in America and how people succeed. J.D. Salinger was a very complex writer. He had many themes and experiences which he shared with his readers throughout his short career. He showed the highs and lows of society, the brutality and care, and the hatred and love. His writing not only shares the thoughts of other cultures from the east but also combines his knowledge from the west to create one of the best writers of American history.

Annotated Bibliography Rosen, Gerald. “A Retrospective Look at “The Catcher in the Rye”. __Modern Critical Views: J.D. Salinger__. Ed. Harold Bloom. New York, NY.: Chelsea House Publishers, 1987. 95-109. The book, __Modern Critical Views: J.D. Salinger__, gives critical views on J.D. Salinger’s books and short stories. It has critical readings on “Seventy Eight Bananas”, “Everyboy’s Favorite”, “Nine Stories”, and “The Catcher in the Rye”. This book was very helpful to me in finding J.D. Salinger’s view on life and his vision as a writer. I would suggest this book to other students who are attempting to find a deeper understanding as to why the writer wrote his books the way he did. I would not suggest this book to someone who is simply on a fact finding mission for a book report. French, Warren. “Chronology”. J.D. Salinger: Revised Edition. Ed. Warren French. Boston, MA.: Twayne Publishers, Inc., 1963. 15-17. The book, __J.D. SALINGER: Revised Edition__, gives deep insight into J.D. Salinger’s thoughts while writing his books. It explains why he used the words, characters, and plots he did. This book was helpful to me through the use of its chronology in the front but beyond that I found it lacking in the specified material I needed. I would not recommend this book to future students because it was very wordy and it was hard to cipher through it. “Overview of J(erome) D(avid) Salinger.” //DISCovering Authors//. Online ed. Detroit: Gale, 2003. //Student// //Resource Center// //– Gold//. Gale. Fuquay Varina High School/WCPS/. 23 May. 2008 http://www.galenet.com/servlet/srcx The article, “Overview of J(erome) D(avid) Salinger”, is a biography about J.D. Salinger. It explained Salinger’s views on society and his experiences in his life. This article was very informative and helped me greatly on my “//Author Trading Card//”. I would recommend this book to any student regardless of their project. This article gives the reader the background information needed to understand the writer and his books. Shepard, Karen. "J. D. SALINGER (1919- )." __Columbia__ __University__ __Press__ 31 May. 2005. Literary Reference Center. [|http://search.ebscohost.com  The article, “J. D. SALINGER (1919- )”, is a biography about J.D. Salinger with plot summaries of his major works. It gave a brief overview of Salinger’s accomplishments and plot summaries of “A Perfect Day for Bananafish” and “For Esmé – With Love and Squalor”. This book was extremely helpful in my “//Author Trading Card//” and provides a lot of information about J.D. Salinger. I would recommend this article to all who want to know more about J.D. Salinger and his accomplishments.