Kenneth Slawenski. J.D. Salinger: A Life.
New York: Random House, 2010.
as reviewed by Ted Odenwald
An unauthorized biography could very easily become the ultimate weapon of revenge upon an individual who had dedicated much of his adult life to protecting his privacy. Whether attempts to examine his life appeared antagonistic or worshipful, J.D. Salinger rejected them as being intrusive, prying, and unwanted. When it was clear that a biography and some of his correspondence would be published, he threatened legal action against the publishers, and then asked all people to whom he had written to destroy or at least withhold all of his letters. Even after his death, his family has followed his wishes, refusing to open his personal collection of unpublished works and personal papers.
Slawenski’s approach to studying Salinger is for the most part indirect. Assuming that the author’s wartime experiences with a combat unit were mind-and-soul-shapers, he discusses the history of that unit, and, given the nature of Salinger’s MOS (job description), surmises the types of experiences that he probably had. Slawenski also examines all of Salinger’s published writings (and some of the extant works which publishers had rejected), looking for clues concerning the author’s state of mind, his maturation as an artist, and his struggles to use non-traditional methods of introspection. The most fertile area of factual biographical material is his always-shaky relationships with his editors and publishers. He had agonized over every jot and tittle of his writing, and viewed any attempt to amend it as being a sacrilege, a personal affront.
Following the end of WWII, Salinger was hospitalized for what is now called Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder. Though not a great deal is known about the novelist’s combat experiences, Slawenski creates a plausible scenario, given Salinger’s unit, his rank, and his military specialty. As a member of the 12th Infantry Regiment of the 4th Infantry Division, he would have been involved in some of American Forces’ most horrendous wartime experiences: D-Day at Utah Beach; the campaign of the Huertgen Forest; the Battle of the Bulge; and the liberation of Dachau concentration camp. As an NCO, fluent in both French and German, he worked in counter-intelligence, interrogating captives and locals; he would have had to be close to the action. Slawenski contends that Salinger’s subsequent search for peace-of-mind, his extreme sensitivity, his immersion in his art, and his reclusive existence were shaped by the apocalyptic experiences of the war.
A great deal of this biography is dedicated to plot and character analyses of Salinger’s works. Slawenski’s purpose is to trace the author’s evolution of his basic themes beginning with his rejection of the phony, materialistic society and working through his various attempts to turn inwardly through Zen-Buddhism, mystic Catholicism, and mystic Hinduism. Slawenski’s analyses also trace the history and development of such characters as Holden Caufield and the Glass family. At the heart of each stage of this development is Salinger’s intensive self-evaluation.
Perhaps as telling as any item in his life is the bunker which Salinger had built for his writing near his home in Cornish, New Hampshire. He would sequester himself for weeks at a time in his refuge, sacrificing family time so that he could focus entirely upon his writing. He was so wrapped up in perfecting his work that he took violent issue with anyone who tried to alter it. Editors learned that their changing a title, a word, or even a punctuation mark would send the author into a rage. He would dismiss the editors, battle with the publishers, and even withdraw his work from publication. His relationships with Story magazine and New Yorker were marred by frequent struggles. He thought that he had made an ideal connection with an English publisher, only to feel betrayed.
As long as much of Salinger’s correspondence remains in obscurity along with many of his writings—and we assume that there is a wealth of unreleased material because he apparently wrote extensively without publishing from the mid ‘60’s till his death in 2010—the public will continue to look upon the author as an eccentric, a reclusive artist, who refused to be overcome by materialistic longings. And readers will wonder, as more material emerges, if the author was any healthier than the tormented souls he presented in his fiction—or, if in fact he was not projecting his own personal struggles through those characters.
Ted Odenwald and his wife, Shirley have lived in Oakland for 40 years. He taught HS English at Glen Rock High School for all of those years plus one more. Now he is enjoying time spent with his family, singing in the North Jersey Chorus and quenching his wanderlust. Ted is also the Worship Leader at the Ramapo Valley Baptist Church in Oakland.