1919-
Fiction Writer

Adolescent Point of View.

In 1959 critic Arthur Mizener wrote that J. D. Salinger "is probably the most avidly read author of any serious pretensions in his generation." Salinger attracted his admiring readership, which was concentrated on college campuses, with one novel, The Catcher in the Rye (1951), and one volume of short stories, Nine Stories (1953), most of which had originally appeared in the New Yorker. Salinger's reputation as a serious writer was difficult for some members of the literary establishment to swallow, because it was based on what was considered to be an adolescent readership. Salinger wrote about and appealed to young people. A Time magazine reviewer observed that he could "understand an adolescent mind without displaying one."

Writings.

Salinger's literary output during the 1950s consisted of The Catcher in the Rye, a first-person narrative by Holden Caulfield, a troubled sixteen-year-old boy seeking...