Salinger: A Critical and Personal Portrait by More Than Twenty Writers and Critics, Including Arthur

by Arthur Mizener (Contributor)

The dust jacket has minor closed tears to the extremities.

Genres: Literary Criticism, Nonfiction, Essays, Literature, Biography

316 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published December 1, 1964

About the author

Arthur Moore Mizener was an American professor of English, literary critic, and biographer. After graduating from Princeton, Mizener obtained his master's degree from Harvard. From 1951 until his retirement in 1975, he was Mellon Foundation Professor of English at Cornell University. In 1951, Mizener published the first biography of Jazz Age writer F. Scott Fitzgerald titled The Far Side of Paradise.
In addition to authoring the first biography of Fitzgerald, Mizener proposed the now popular interpretations of Fitzgerald's magnum opus The Great Gatsby as a criticism of the American Dream and the character of Jay Gatsby as the dream's false prophet. He popularized these interpretations in a series of talks titled "The Great Gatsby and the American Dream."
Although Mizener's biography became a commercial success, Fitzgerald's friends such as critic Edmund Wilson believed the work distorted Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald's relationship and personalities for the worse. Consequently, scholars deemed Andrew Turnbull's 1962 biography Scott Fitzgerald to be a significant correction of the biographical record.
In 1971, Mizener released a biography about writer Ford Madox Ford titled The Saddest Story: A Biography of Ford Madox Ford that received critical acclaim but did not achieve the same commercial success. He later wrote a supplemental Fitzgerald biography titled Scott Fitzgerald And His World.

Reviews

[Hannah Garden · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Kazin-and-Updike section of this made me so angry I LITRILLY had to put it down and go running.

The rest ranges from blah to yes-yes-yes! But all the former is stuff you've read a thousand times in college, and the latter just stuff you already know, if you aren't some kind of creep. Three stars.

[Judy Richey · Rating 1 out of 5]

A study in professional envy for the most part. Almost all the male authors took shots at the material. Two women rated Salinger's books highly, and one fully understood the religious perspective of his writing. Compassionate love is in all of his work. Salinger,to my mind,is a Buddhist who wrote words pried from the heart and soul.

[Kimberly Erskine · Rating 4 out of 5]

Salinger: The Classic Critical and Personal Portrait is a compelling collection of essays and literary criticism that explores J.D. Salinger’s life, work, and enduring influence—offering readers a deeper understanding of both the man and his most iconic characters.

Salinger is one of my all-time favorite writers, and The Catcher in the Rye remains my favorite novel. Because Salinger was famously reclusive and fiercely protective of his privacy, there’s always felt like a certain mystery surrounding him—and I tend to devour any book of criticism or scholarship that attempts to peel back even a small part of that veil. This book did not disappoint.

The essays were insightful, well-researched, and genuinely enlightening. Despite having read The Catcher in the Rye more than half a dozen times, I still walked away with fresh perspectives that made me excited to reread it yet again. I gained a deeper understanding of why I relate so strongly to Holden Caulfield—his discomfort within society, his moral sensitivity, and his inability (or refusal) to conform. The analysis of Holden’s vocabulary and Salinger’s masterful use of slang was especially strong, highlighting how perfectly Holden exists in that liminal space between boyhood and adulthood. Salinger truly was a master of his craft.

I also loved the comparisons to other literary works, particularly The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn. I had never fully realized how much Holden and Huck have in common, but the parallels were so convincing that they made me want to reread Twain’s novel with fresh eyes. The discussion of the “good bad boy” archetype—characters like Holden and Huck who rebel not out of cruelty, but conscience—was one of the most compelling themes in the book.

I ultimately gave this book four stars instead of five because, at times, it felt dense and occasionally dragged. I found myself needing to take breaks between sections. Still, for readers who love Salinger and enjoy thoughtful literary criticism, this book is absolutely worth the time and effort

[Thomas Shaye-Hawk · Rating 3 out of 5]

not so keen on literary criticism, though it did provide very salient insights into J.D. Salinger that I otherwise would have never considered. Also, it did very much to show me why exactly I liked Salinger's stories so much.

[Lilly Drury · Rating 5 out of 5]

I feel so blessed to have found this book at the second hand store and it was the most academically fulfilling and enjoyable experience to read the critiques and reviews of my favorite author from the time period in which is work was released, and through the eyes of the literary crowd that was active at the time.

[Jamison Spencer · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of essays from Salinger's contemporaries. Surprisingly, they were mostly negative, and I rarely agreed with their arguments, but I had a great time arguing in my head as I read along.