Don’t be a Phoney

Remembering J.D. Salinger (1919-2010)

Catcher in the Rye “has never been out of print and has sold over 80 million copies around the world to date, not counting e-books,” according to the New York Times. And today marks the 75th anniversary of its publication. I first read it in around 1956, on the recommendation of a neighbor, Mrs. Rosen, who was a big influence on my reading at that time. I’m pretty sure my mother thought she was a BAD influence, because the books she introduced me to were often controversial, including this one. My junior high school teachers were definitely never going to recommend it and probably never read it. They were pushing Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm — I am not kidding.

According to the New York Times, the novel “struck a brash new note in American literature.”("Holden Caulfield, the Ultimate Adolescent, Is Turning 75") 

Here’s the famous first sentence of Salinger’s novel in the voice of his hero Holden Caulfield:

“If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you’ll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don’t feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.”

I’m sure many writers will commemorate this anniversary, so I don’t have to say anything else, just that I’m still on the lookout for phonies just as Holden Caulfield was. I loved it when I first read it, and subsequently enjoyed the rest of Salinger’s stories as he published them in the New Yorker, and again when they appeared in book form. I was disappointed that he stopped writing.

Just published: this tribute to the novel: https://www.theguardian.com/books/2026/jul/16/i-felt-holden-was-talking-to-me-alone-the-catcher-in-the-rye-at-75