J. D. Salinger — Great Writer or One-Book Wonder?

Jerome David Salinger [1919-2010] wasn’t a prolific writer, or rather, not a prolifically published writer — by choice. Most of the people I know who have read Salinger’s work have just read The Catcher in the Rye — his outrageously popular novel. Holden Caulfield, the teen protagonist, became a household name in the ‘50s & to date, the novel has sold 70 million copies & perhaps another 70 million in fakes.   

In his lifetime [Salinger lived till 91], he published 4, thin-as-wafers, books/novellas

The Catcher in the Rye [1951]

Nine Stories [1953]

Franny and Zooey [1961]

Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction [1963]

1965 onwards till his sudden death in 2010, Salinger didn’t publish anything. That’s 45 years of absolutely nothing. Though Salinger’s family claims he wrote everyday till he departed. Even 11 years after his death, we are yet to see anything new published barring — Three Early Stories — which were already published in 1940 & 1944. 

Let’s tackle the elephant in the room. Was Salinger a great writer or a one-book wonder?

Before we can grapple with that question, let’s try to establish what exactly makes a writer — great.

1. Have Gazillion Bestsellers like Agatha Christie [3-4 billion novels sold], Sydney Sheldon [500-600 million], John Grisham [250 million], Danielle Steel [700-800 million]
2. A ridiculously recordbreaking book like Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone [120 million] The Little Prince [100 million], Da Vince Code [80 million], 
3. Writing critically acclaimed novels like The Clockwork Orange [Anthony Burgess], 1984 [George Orwell], Amusing Ourselves to Death [Neil Postman], Brave New World [Aldous Huxley], The Trial [Franz Kafka]
4. Breathtaking Story-telling like Dan Brown, Jeffrey Archer, Roald Dahl
5. Uncanny/Dark/Wicked Humor — The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy [Douglas Adams], Catch-22 [Joseph Heller]
6. Marvelously Memorable/Dazzling Characters — Sherlock Holmes [Arthur Conan Doyle], Miss Havisham — Great Expectations [Charles Dickens], Gandalf — The Lord of the Rings [J.R.R. Tolkien]

I reckon I can make a list of 666 practical points & we will still get nowhere to truly figuring out what makes a writer great. 

Why

I don’t want to judge a writer based on her popularity or what the critics say about his work or the number of books they’ve written/sold. 

I’m also a writer. I’ve written three novels. And I’ve read all 4 of Salinger’s published works. I will now give you my flawed opinion on Salinger’s writing based on my flawed understanding of what makes a writer great.

To me, it’s absolutely significant why someone writes. 

Here’s why I write:

“If I think my writing will change you, I'd be delusional. I do hope some of it will compel you to stop for a moment & contemplate. But, I don’t write for that either. It’d be a betrayal to writing if I did it for anything. I write because nothing else makes sense & my life becomes meaningless when I don’t.”

Why Franz Kafka wrote:

“My life consists, and basically always has consisted, of attempts at writing, mostly unsuccessful. But when I didn’t write, I was at once flat on the floor, fit for the dustbin. My energies have always been pitifully weak…”

“My mode of life is devised solely for writing, and if there are any changes, then only for the sake of perhaps fitting in better with my writing, for time is short, my strength is limited, the office is a horror, the apartment is noisy…”

To me, anyone who writes to become famous, make bucket loads of dough, & because writing is glamourous & prestigious, is not a writer but a good ol' prostitute. 

Everything I’ve read of Salinger, every word that is, makes it undoubtedly clear that he wrote for the same reasons Freddy Mercury wrote & sang.

But just because you’re compelled to write & are honest as trees in your work, you still need a lot more to be a true writer. 

The heart of a writer is — Stories.

You have to be pregnant with stories. The stories that refuse to be aborted. The stories that refuse to be stillborn. When you birth those stories on paper, you liberate them & send them away to float in the universe beyond your lifetime, beyond the lifetime of the universe itself.

If you let stories die in you then no matter what you say to convince yourself, you’re not a writer — you’re a mother, a murderer.

Mother doesn’t always love the baby.

Christopher Nolan once said, “The only time I ever feel I've wasted my time in a movie theater is when I don't feel the people making the film really loved it.”

You’re the artist — mother of the stories. After you give birth & Before you let those stories fly in the stormy skies, you’ve to be dead honest as the single mother. You’ve to give your best & then a little bit more to make sure you’ve done everything humanly possible to shape those stories the best they could’ve been shaped.

Because when someone, anyone, reads them, they must never doubt —even for the millionth of a second— that you didn’t love your baby as much as it is humanly possible to love someone, to love a story.

Did I ever feel, J. D. Salinger didn’t love his story as much as he could’ve? 

I did. 

I might be wrong but when I read — Seymour: An Introduction, I felt the story wasn’t raised with absolute love — I felt the writer/mother was excessively self-indulgent & a lazy parent. But that’s the only story I’ve read born out of Salinger where I felt he faltered. And we are humans — if anything, we always falter — and often.

I was 30 when I first read The Catcher in the Rye. I was already too goddamn old to read a book, whose protagonist was a depressed, teenage rebel. But not only I absolutely adored that book, it also influenced me to write my third novel in first person, something I hadn’t ever even considered — I had written my first two novels in third person.

It’s darn important for the stories/novels we read to make our blood change direction, our heart beat differently, our eyes change color, our hair rise with emotion — transform a part of us & take us to places that are beyond our slender imagination.

As a writer, Salinger’s stories have given me new ideas. As a reader, they’ve given me solid joy & often been gut-wrenching. Even when I reckon he has faltered as a story parent, I’ve learned from his fumbles. 

So, is Salinger a great writer? I don’t know & I’ve no way to really say either way. 

I will tell you what I do know. Salinger was never a good ol' prostitute — he was the real deal — a human born with stories in him. The world would’ve been worse off had he aborted those stories. His babies — his stories made my world better. And I’m glad I chanced upon Salinger’s stories even when I was too old to read them. Had I never read his stories, I would’ve missed out on those miracles born on paper.