The Catcher in the Rye (1951) is Salinger's most famous work. The novel follows Holden Caulfield, a disaffected prep-school dropout, as he meanders in New York City for three days. Like Seymour, Holden feels alienated from those around him and toys with thoughts of suicide.

Salinger's two novellas Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963) are both narrated by Buddy Glass, Seymour's younger brother. Carpenters tells the story of Seymour and Muriel's wedding, while the Introduction is Buddy's attempt to make the reader appreciate his brother's more elusive qualities.

Franny and Zooey (1961) is another of Salinger's extended examinations of the Glass family. While these two novellas do not directly concern Seymour, they do add to the overall literary universe of which Seymour is undoubtedly the center.

T. S. Eliot's poem The Waste Land (1922) is quoted by Seymour; as...