J. D. Salinger :: Biography Biographies Essays

J. D. SalingerBiographer Ian Hamilton notes that J. D. Salinger has been notoriously notable for not wanting to be famous (4). Born in New York in 1919 and still living today, Salinger leads a rather reclusive flavorstyle, choosing to avoid the general attentions of the press, and thus making his life a difficult subject for study. His work, however, has been cherished and studied for many years. He has published many works of fiction both in leger form and in magazines such as the New Yorker and Esquire. One of his well-nigh intriguing novels is Franny and Zooey, which is actually composed of two short stories bearing those names. It is ace of several of Salingers works involving the Glass family, specifically Franny and her brother Zachary, known in the family as Zooey. Franny relates the manner in which she arrives by train to spend an good afternoon with her boyfriend Lane, whom she has not seen for nearly time. Lane is by genius a repressive person, one who, waiting for a train, intentionally tries to empty his impudence of all expression that might quite simply, perhaps even beautifully, better how he felt about the arriving person (7). It beautifully and honestly illustrates the nature of their relationship, which is far less than perfect. In the wake of the suicide of her brother Seymour (which readers place learn more about in A Perfect twenty-four hour period for Bananafish included in Nine Stories), Franny searches for spiritual meaning in her life. Her rooster in this quest is a book entitled The Way of a Pilgrim, and in following the teachings of this book, she begins to consider the lack of meaning in some of her relationships, which, in this story, alienates Lane. The majority of the story focuses on their dinner conversation, and the tension which develops in the midst of the couple is well handled by Salinger for example, when Franny begins acting strangely, Lane looked at her, and so exhaled an overly expressive stream of smoke do wn at his plate. This is handout to be a real little doll of a weekend, he said (24). Eventually, out of mental exhaustion, Franny passes out in the restaurant,Zooey picks up where Franny leaves remove she has been sick as a result of her increasing self-neglect. The reader meets Zooey, who spends the great part of the story discussing with Franny her condition. Franny reveals the main point of The Way of a Pilgrim, which is to usurp the Jesus Prayer incessantly until it becomes as natural and constant a bodily process as breathing.