SOURCE: "A Preface for 'Franny and Zooey'," in The Critic, Vol. XX, No. 4, February-March, 1962, pp. 25-8.

In the following essay, McIntyre explores the role of religion in Franny and Zooey, concluding that Salinger's concern is not with society, but with spiritual matters.

The publication of Franny and Zooey in hard-back has whipped up a critical farrago. Instead of manifesting an understanding, either by way of sympathy or intelligence, current critical opinion tends to regard these latter-day pieces as static emblems of a static art: they don't go any place. Although Little, Brown & Co. is asking four dollars for the two short stories, one would look in vain for an introduction or critical preface. But this does not surprise in view of the mixed reception. Which Salinger himself anticipated. In his "formal introduction" to "Zooey" he confesses: "People are already shaking their heads over me, and any immediate further...