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In Search of J.D. Salinger
In trying to research the details of J.D. Salinger's life for this book, Ian Hamilton forced the writer out of his reclusive hideaway to challenge his discoveries in an American court of law. When Ian Hamilton set out in 1983 to write a biography of Salinger, he knew that there would be difficulties. Just how great those difficulties would be, what implacable hostility he would meet from Salinger and what astonishing finds he would stumble on, he could not have guessed.;This text is the story of that quest, a literary detective story which ends in court, with a bitter and protracted lawsuit in which Salinger sought to restrict the use Hamilton could make of his letters.
228 pages, Paperback
First published May 12, 1988
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About the author
Ian Hamilton
69 books20 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Robert Ian Hamilton was a British literary critic, reviewer, biographer, poet, magazine editor and publisher.
Robert Ian Hamilton was a British literary critic, reviewer, biographer, poet, magazine editor and publisher.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 38 reviews
June 4, 2016
In addition to writing one of the most popular and beloved novels of all time (The Catcher in the Rye) along with a few more high-profile books, J.D. Salinger had written stories for widely read pubs including the New Yorker and Esquire and The Saturday Evening Post.
Notice in all of that I did not say that J.D. Salinger wrote these things and then lock them away in a vault unseen, or allow them to be published only in the most obscure high school newspapers where they would be guaranteed to remain unread.
In other words, Salinger might have denied wanting fame and attention, but as Ian Hamilton shows in this biography time and again, his writing for high-profile publications was part of a conscious campaign by Salinger to have his work disseminated as far and wide as possible; to, in essence, be seen by as many as possible; to, in essence, become famous.
Salinger rather naively and unreasonably, in my opinion, wanted renown without the hassle of fame. And, for the most part, he negotiated that state of being very successfully. Time, the New York Post and hundreds of other fans, reporters and organizations tried over the decades to penetrate the elusive author's secretive world and score the scoop interview only to be decisively rebuffed at every turn. During his lifetime, Salinger was as much a master of deception, disinformation and secrecy as he was an author, so much so that his network of friends and acquaintances became a stone wall of silence whenever "outsiders" dared to ask anything about him. Knowing that reprisals would follow (Salinger would cut them off from what must have seemed the most exclusive friendship club in the world) the friends remained mum. This networked barrier was a masterstroke and a great example of psychological manipulation. Ironically, this was an author who withdrew from the world to get away from its "phonies"--to quote his partial alter ego and hero of ...Rye, Holden Caulfield--and yet he maintained relations with people who were not free to say what they wanted in order to remain one of his lapdog hangers-on. He obviously failed to see their phoniness, or the irony in his acceptance of that.
It is thus probably no surprise to learn that Salinger very likely had worked for the American intelligence corps in World War II, as Hamilton reveals persuasively from the evidence. We learn a lot, in fact, about the late Mr. S. from Ian Hamilton's dogged investigation into a life that, if not particularly earthshaking, was at least more than interesting enough to warrant a biography, and not just a life-story but one that authoritatively shows the links between the characters in Salinger's fiction and their likely real-life sources, inspirations and counterparts. Hamilton knows his Salinger inside and out, and his readings of the texts and speculations on the likely parallels between what's in the stories and how they related to Salinger's real life are provocative and insightful.
Given how little information existed in the public record about Salinger, it's quite remarkable just how much information Hamilton was able to glean from letters and other previously untapped sources. This is a good biography by any standard, and doubly remarkable in view of what a tough nut to crack was this subject.
I don't know what, if anything, has been rattled loose from the cobwebs or the zip-lipped compadres of Salinger since his death in January 2010 to give us any more insight about him apropos his decades of privacy and what was going on therein. Hamilton wrote and published this in the 1980s, well before Salinger's death but long after the author had disappeared from public view in the 1950s and after his last published work in 1965, and I know of nothing since that has as successfully managed to render corporeal someone as wispy and elusive as this phantom.
The effort reminded me a lot of a 1980s documentary about Marlene Dietrich called Marlene in which the actor-director Maximillian Schell attempted to interview the reclusive star on camera for the first time in decades but was rebuffed by her after an agreement to make the film, necessitating Schell's brilliant lemonade-from-lemons strategy of reconstructing her apartment from memory as the film's set, then superimposing tempestuous tape-recorded phone interviews with Dietrich over images of the reconstructed abode, thus giving the viewer as much or more insight into the combative star as would have been achieved in a conventional talking-head documentary.
Hamilton's book is not perfect. He adopts a somewhat disconcerting narrative framing device in which he debates with his alter-ego or "companion" or conscience about the significance of each fact or pseudo fact he encounters in the investigation. Instead of invoking conversations with this alter-ego character, Hamilton could just as easily have simply said, "I debated with myself about...(whatever)," which would have been just as effective and less gimmicky.
Nonetheless, given the dearth of information about Salinger, this is a spectacularly impressive job. Whenever Hamilton is forced to speculate--which is often--his speculations are well-informed and plausible and arrived at logically and in context.
Most of my rating is for Ian Hamilton's doggedness and reasonableness. Yes, reasonableness and fairness toward his subject. Hamilton laid down ground rules at the beginning of this quest that nobody else in the media would have granted Salinger, partly out of respect and partly out of a sense of responsibility to do a fair and balanced job. I think Hamilton succeeded.
Not surprisingly, Salinger and his lawyers did not agree, and they fought through several layers of courts to keep the book off the market. Unfortunately, this version of the book reflects some of the damaging influences of those censorious efforts. Although Hamilton was free to report the facts he gleaned from Salinger's previously unpublished letters (from various collections and archives), the courts ruled rather absurdly that he could not quote directly from them--despite the fact that Salinger did not even own the letters or would not likely realize any commercial gain from them; not to mention that anyone could walk off the street and read them themselves. Thus Hamilton was robbed of a legitimate tool of the biographer to show the style of his subject's letter writing in addition to the contents of the letters. The case shows the patent bullshit attendant to a good deal of copyright law and its inconsistent interpretation.
One is left satisfied by this book, partly because even by its end, Salinger remains enigmatic and mysterious. And, it's breezily written and easily read.
So, to those of you who say Salinger should have been left alone, I say, fuck that. He asked for every bit of this...if you want to know the truth.
(KevinR@Ky, slightly amended in 2016)
Notice in all of that I did not say that J.D. Salinger wrote these things and then lock them away in a vault unseen, or allow them to be published only in the most obscure high school newspapers where they would be guaranteed to remain unread.
In other words, Salinger might have denied wanting fame and attention, but as Ian Hamilton shows in this biography time and again, his writing for high-profile publications was part of a conscious campaign by Salinger to have his work disseminated as far and wide as possible; to, in essence, be seen by as many as possible; to, in essence, become famous.
Salinger rather naively and unreasonably, in my opinion, wanted renown without the hassle of fame. And, for the most part, he negotiated that state of being very successfully. Time, the New York Post and hundreds of other fans, reporters and organizations tried over the decades to penetrate the elusive author's secretive world and score the scoop interview only to be decisively rebuffed at every turn. During his lifetime, Salinger was as much a master of deception, disinformation and secrecy as he was an author, so much so that his network of friends and acquaintances became a stone wall of silence whenever "outsiders" dared to ask anything about him. Knowing that reprisals would follow (Salinger would cut them off from what must have seemed the most exclusive friendship club in the world) the friends remained mum. This networked barrier was a masterstroke and a great example of psychological manipulation. Ironically, this was an author who withdrew from the world to get away from its "phonies"--to quote his partial alter ego and hero of ...Rye, Holden Caulfield--and yet he maintained relations with people who were not free to say what they wanted in order to remain one of his lapdog hangers-on. He obviously failed to see their phoniness, or the irony in his acceptance of that.
It is thus probably no surprise to learn that Salinger very likely had worked for the American intelligence corps in World War II, as Hamilton reveals persuasively from the evidence. We learn a lot, in fact, about the late Mr. S. from Ian Hamilton's dogged investigation into a life that, if not particularly earthshaking, was at least more than interesting enough to warrant a biography, and not just a life-story but one that authoritatively shows the links between the characters in Salinger's fiction and their likely real-life sources, inspirations and counterparts. Hamilton knows his Salinger inside and out, and his readings of the texts and speculations on the likely parallels between what's in the stories and how they related to Salinger's real life are provocative and insightful.
Given how little information existed in the public record about Salinger, it's quite remarkable just how much information Hamilton was able to glean from letters and other previously untapped sources. This is a good biography by any standard, and doubly remarkable in view of what a tough nut to crack was this subject.
I don't know what, if anything, has been rattled loose from the cobwebs or the zip-lipped compadres of Salinger since his death in January 2010 to give us any more insight about him apropos his decades of privacy and what was going on therein. Hamilton wrote and published this in the 1980s, well before Salinger's death but long after the author had disappeared from public view in the 1950s and after his last published work in 1965, and I know of nothing since that has as successfully managed to render corporeal someone as wispy and elusive as this phantom.
The effort reminded me a lot of a 1980s documentary about Marlene Dietrich called Marlene in which the actor-director Maximillian Schell attempted to interview the reclusive star on camera for the first time in decades but was rebuffed by her after an agreement to make the film, necessitating Schell's brilliant lemonade-from-lemons strategy of reconstructing her apartment from memory as the film's set, then superimposing tempestuous tape-recorded phone interviews with Dietrich over images of the reconstructed abode, thus giving the viewer as much or more insight into the combative star as would have been achieved in a conventional talking-head documentary.
Hamilton's book is not perfect. He adopts a somewhat disconcerting narrative framing device in which he debates with his alter-ego or "companion" or conscience about the significance of each fact or pseudo fact he encounters in the investigation. Instead of invoking conversations with this alter-ego character, Hamilton could just as easily have simply said, "I debated with myself about...(whatever)," which would have been just as effective and less gimmicky.
Nonetheless, given the dearth of information about Salinger, this is a spectacularly impressive job. Whenever Hamilton is forced to speculate--which is often--his speculations are well-informed and plausible and arrived at logically and in context.
Most of my rating is for Ian Hamilton's doggedness and reasonableness. Yes, reasonableness and fairness toward his subject. Hamilton laid down ground rules at the beginning of this quest that nobody else in the media would have granted Salinger, partly out of respect and partly out of a sense of responsibility to do a fair and balanced job. I think Hamilton succeeded.
Not surprisingly, Salinger and his lawyers did not agree, and they fought through several layers of courts to keep the book off the market. Unfortunately, this version of the book reflects some of the damaging influences of those censorious efforts. Although Hamilton was free to report the facts he gleaned from Salinger's previously unpublished letters (from various collections and archives), the courts ruled rather absurdly that he could not quote directly from them--despite the fact that Salinger did not even own the letters or would not likely realize any commercial gain from them; not to mention that anyone could walk off the street and read them themselves. Thus Hamilton was robbed of a legitimate tool of the biographer to show the style of his subject's letter writing in addition to the contents of the letters. The case shows the patent bullshit attendant to a good deal of copyright law and its inconsistent interpretation.
One is left satisfied by this book, partly because even by its end, Salinger remains enigmatic and mysterious. And, it's breezily written and easily read.
So, to those of you who say Salinger should have been left alone, I say, fuck that. He asked for every bit of this...if you want to know the truth.
(KevinR@Ky, slightly amended in 2016)
January 11, 2022
This was a random $1 find at Counterpoint Books in LA. I was intrigued by the back panel and bought it. Heck, what a uniquely told story. It IS a Salinger biography, but that’s almost just the scenery upon which is layered the ACTUAL story… which is about a journalist fighting with himself about all the things journalists fight with themselves about (can i be objective? Should a fan tell a story about the object of their fandom? Is criticism really just overwrought fanaticism? When should i break someone’s privacy if they wish to keep it?) And it culminates in a fair use trial, for my fellow law-and-journalism nerds. Highly recommend. Five stars out of two or whatever.
February 18, 2009
I think that Hamilton's shame almost drowns out any useful or interesting information that may have been gained from reading this book. Salinger doesn't want to be found and there's nothing wrong with that.
January 2, 2024
“It’s evident Salinger has a saint complex. He wants to be a saint. The trouble is, he doesn’t have a saintly personality—quite the opposite—he is egotistical, ill tempered, unforgiving. But he wants to be a saint because saints are above the humans, they are unstoppably superior.”
February 8, 2021
1.5 stars
If you're looking for a decent biography on Salinger, I wouldn't recommend this one. Hamilton does a reasonable job of exploring Salinger's life, writing and career, but it's the tone of the book that I disliked for three reasons.
1. Hamilton starts the book of by detailing how much of a private individual Salinger is, then shrugs it off by saying more or less 'why does he think he's so fucking special to deserve privacy'. Which wouldn't be such a big deal in itself, when you become a public figure you have to expect a certain amount of scrutiny and interest. But Hamilton himself lists the numerous ways that he tries to dig up information, including contacting family members, Salinger himself, past lovers, friends, mailmen or practically anyone who might have ever had a passing acquantence with the man. Most of these people from Salinger's past refuse to talk to media so a sizeable part of the book is just supposition. From the outset Hamilton gives a portrait of a man who just wants to be left alone, then goes on to explain how he invaded every aspect of his life he possibly could.
2. There is a disrespectful vibe to the whole project, Hamilton seems to be digging for any unflattering, suspicious or scandalous information he possibly can. A biography isn't supposed to be a fawning sychophantic love fest for the subject, but the book comes across as much closer to a lurid gossip magazine than a objective biography.
3. Hamilton constantly inserts himself into the story. Hamilton talks about his alter ego who is like a private investigator who is trying to uncover the facts of Salinger's life. We hear about this alter ego throughout the book and it is a baffling addition to the book. A new chapter will start and Hamilton will be having a fictional argument with his alter ego about this or that, and I would get confused as to what the hell was going on until I remembered the stupid alter ego premise. The book is only about 220 pages long, about 30 of them cover Hamilton's plans on starting the book, 20 pages are about a copyright legal battle Hamilton has with Salinger's lawyers and we get plenty more about Hamilton in between. At least a third to half of this short biography are pointlessly about Hamilton himself rather than Salinger.
I think I'm objective in my views here, I've never been a big Salinger fan. For whatever reason Catcher in the Rye just didn't hit me like it did a lot of other people. It was interesting to learn about Salinger's life and works, I just found this book infuriating overall.
If you're looking for a decent biography on Salinger, I wouldn't recommend this one. Hamilton does a reasonable job of exploring Salinger's life, writing and career, but it's the tone of the book that I disliked for three reasons.
1. Hamilton starts the book of by detailing how much of a private individual Salinger is, then shrugs it off by saying more or less 'why does he think he's so fucking special to deserve privacy'. Which wouldn't be such a big deal in itself, when you become a public figure you have to expect a certain amount of scrutiny and interest. But Hamilton himself lists the numerous ways that he tries to dig up information, including contacting family members, Salinger himself, past lovers, friends, mailmen or practically anyone who might have ever had a passing acquantence with the man. Most of these people from Salinger's past refuse to talk to media so a sizeable part of the book is just supposition. From the outset Hamilton gives a portrait of a man who just wants to be left alone, then goes on to explain how he invaded every aspect of his life he possibly could.
2. There is a disrespectful vibe to the whole project, Hamilton seems to be digging for any unflattering, suspicious or scandalous information he possibly can. A biography isn't supposed to be a fawning sychophantic love fest for the subject, but the book comes across as much closer to a lurid gossip magazine than a objective biography.
3. Hamilton constantly inserts himself into the story. Hamilton talks about his alter ego who is like a private investigator who is trying to uncover the facts of Salinger's life. We hear about this alter ego throughout the book and it is a baffling addition to the book. A new chapter will start and Hamilton will be having a fictional argument with his alter ego about this or that, and I would get confused as to what the hell was going on until I remembered the stupid alter ego premise. The book is only about 220 pages long, about 30 of them cover Hamilton's plans on starting the book, 20 pages are about a copyright legal battle Hamilton has with Salinger's lawyers and we get plenty more about Hamilton in between. At least a third to half of this short biography are pointlessly about Hamilton himself rather than Salinger.
I think I'm objective in my views here, I've never been a big Salinger fan. For whatever reason Catcher in the Rye just didn't hit me like it did a lot of other people. It was interesting to learn about Salinger's life and works, I just found this book infuriating overall.
March 9, 2017
Intermittently interesting. Not sure about the alter ego format.
November 22, 2020
Like all Salinger biographies this one suffers from the subject’s unwillingness to participate, and in this case Salinger actively placed obstacles in the path of the biographer. Having said that, the most interesting part of the book is the final chapter where Hamilton describes his (ultimately unsuccessful) legal efforts to get the book published in the form originally envisaged.
Unable to quote directly from sources such as letters penned by Salinger, Hamilton is forced to paraphrase the contents of primary materials leading to a somewhat insipid portrait. Hamilton does his best with the material he is able to accumulate but there are no startling revelations to be found within these pages.
Oh and like one of the other reviewers- the alter-ego angle doesn’t work.
Unable to quote directly from sources such as letters penned by Salinger, Hamilton is forced to paraphrase the contents of primary materials leading to a somewhat insipid portrait. Hamilton does his best with the material he is able to accumulate but there are no startling revelations to be found within these pages.
Oh and like one of the other reviewers- the alter-ego angle doesn’t work.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 10, 2018
having read Salinger's published collection, this curious biography and critique sheds much light on the writing and the author.
the detective and controversial side of this book proved underwhelming despite coming to a head (I felt a little sorry for the JDS under interrogation)
that said, does the man's almost unrivalled talent excuse his early arrogance? in his case (as in many) grandeur often follows irrational expectations...
his myth partly exposed, although some remains, I'll likely re-read more Salinger separating the author from the writing... it's what he would have wanted
the detective and controversial side of this book proved underwhelming despite coming to a head (I felt a little sorry for the JDS under interrogation)
that said, does the man's almost unrivalled talent excuse his early arrogance? in his case (as in many) grandeur often follows irrational expectations...
his myth partly exposed, although some remains, I'll likely re-read more Salinger separating the author from the writing... it's what he would have wanted
September 11, 2020
A well-done book not simply about Salinger, but also about the attempt to be able to write about him—against his resistance. I haven’t read Salinger, probably won’t. Hamilton doesn’t really intend to make Salinger out to be a complete ass, but it’s clear that he was.
July 30, 2023
Este livro do poeta Ian Hamilton, uma tentativa de biografia de Salinger, que esbarra na dificuldade em conseguir documentos, cartas, quanto mais uma entrevista, consegue ser tão interessante e absorvente como as histórias do recluso, evasivo e escorregadio Salinger.
January 8, 2024
I wish I had just 1/100th of Salinger’s mysterious personality, sadly I have but a speck of mystery within.
Overall enjoyed this read. I knew little to nothing about JDS’s life prior to reading this biography, and can now confidently say that I know a little about his life.
Overall enjoyed this read. I knew little to nothing about JDS’s life prior to reading this biography, and can now confidently say that I know a little about his life.
October 19, 2019
this book is terrific
September 11, 2022
Easy to read detective style recounting of Hamilton's efforts to write a literary biography of Salinger.
October 19, 2023
2.5 stars
this was my sole venture into the realm of reading non-fiction for fun 👍 as expected, fiction > nonfiction but i still enjoyed the read
this was my sole venture into the realm of reading non-fiction for fun 👍 as expected, fiction > nonfiction but i still enjoyed the read
March 2, 2024
Enjoyed this. Full of details, thoughtful and introspective. Style of the writing was interesting even without the compelling subject. Last part about copyright law is significant.
August 14, 2012
I have a thing for J.D. Salinger and even I am not quite sure what that means. I wrote a paper about him in college that has little to recommend itself. I did append to the paper several short stories by Salinger that were published in The Saturday Evening Post in the 1940s. I painstakingly typed them out on my manual portable Hermes typewriter, probably on corraseable paper so I wouldn’t have to use white-out. The professor was not impressed. It did not jumpstart my writing or literary career.
I was also one of the millions of teenage boys who read The Catcher in the Rye. Let’s be clear, I was one of the boys wondering what it meant anyway. I have 65 GR friends and 40 of them have rated The Catcher in the Rye . Most everybody knows Holden Caulfield and many would like to know more about the author. But Salinger is not having any of it. In Search of J.D. Salinger is one of the many efforts to fill that information gap.
Hamilton wedged himself into Salinger’s private world by finding five years worth of letters that Salinger wrote to Whit Burnett, the editor of Story magazine , a well respected publication that first published one of Salinger’s early short stories. The letters were in the Whit Burnett/Story magazine files. Salinger took Hamilton to court to prevent him from using those and other similar unpublished letters in the biography. Salinger had a lot of money and had the best lawyers. The result of the court trial was that the book was substantially revised, removing any of Salinger’s own words found in private documents from the text. The chapter at the end of the book on the legal process is interesting and readable without much legalize. The author’s successful search for letters that Salinger had sent to others is impressive. He used them as best he could given his court-ordered silence on the exact wording of Salinger.
One interesting thing about the legal matter is that it was well publicized and Salinger got more presumably unwanted publicity than he had in the previous twenty years. He had to give an in person deposition, his first public appearance in some time.
With very limited direct Salinger material, Hamilton resorts to the common technique of reading the author’s work as autobiographical, trying to make connections between Salinger’s life and his stories. At times the analysis of Salinger’s famous families, first the Caulfields and then the Glasses, takes over, overwhelming any potential biographic value. However, as someone who has not yet comprehended much of Salinger’s work, I find the plot summaries and analyses to be quite interesting. And personally, I do believe that all writing is autobiographical to some extent. But there is a lot of assuming and conjecturing and inferring that must happen to turn books into biographies.
This is a relatively short book of just over two hundred pages. Although it seems to cover every observed incident of Salinger leaving his rural home to go to the grocery store or the post office, our picture of the author remains fuzzy. Salinger married twice. The first lasted only briefly and the second produced a son and a daughter. The daughter Margaret Salinger wrote a book in 2000 that is rated 3.27 on GR.
Other books about Salinger that I have on my bookshelf:
Salinger, A Biography
J.D. Salinger, A Life
Dream Catcher, A Memoir
At Home in the World: A Memoir
I found this book readable both in writing style and in interesting content. It talked about the process of researching and writing the book since it was prohibited by a court decision from being published in its original form with excerpts from unpublished letters from Salinger to various people. The letters allowed the author to reach some conclusions about Salinger’s life and work but the supporting material could not be included. There are footnotes.
With some regret I am giving In Search of J.D. Salinger three stars. It might deserve better but when I compare it with J.D. Salinger, A Life, it does not come close. I would have to read other biographies of Salinger to know better where this one fits in the pack.
I was also one of the millions of teenage boys who read The Catcher in the Rye. Let’s be clear, I was one of the boys wondering what it meant anyway. I have 65 GR friends and 40 of them have rated The Catcher in the Rye . Most everybody knows Holden Caulfield and many would like to know more about the author. But Salinger is not having any of it. In Search of J.D. Salinger is one of the many efforts to fill that information gap.
Hamilton wedged himself into Salinger’s private world by finding five years worth of letters that Salinger wrote to Whit Burnett, the editor of Story magazine , a well respected publication that first published one of Salinger’s early short stories. The letters were in the Whit Burnett/Story magazine files. Salinger took Hamilton to court to prevent him from using those and other similar unpublished letters in the biography. Salinger had a lot of money and had the best lawyers. The result of the court trial was that the book was substantially revised, removing any of Salinger’s own words found in private documents from the text. The chapter at the end of the book on the legal process is interesting and readable without much legalize. The author’s successful search for letters that Salinger had sent to others is impressive. He used them as best he could given his court-ordered silence on the exact wording of Salinger.
One interesting thing about the legal matter is that it was well publicized and Salinger got more presumably unwanted publicity than he had in the previous twenty years. He had to give an in person deposition, his first public appearance in some time.
With very limited direct Salinger material, Hamilton resorts to the common technique of reading the author’s work as autobiographical, trying to make connections between Salinger’s life and his stories. At times the analysis of Salinger’s famous families, first the Caulfields and then the Glasses, takes over, overwhelming any potential biographic value. However, as someone who has not yet comprehended much of Salinger’s work, I find the plot summaries and analyses to be quite interesting. And personally, I do believe that all writing is autobiographical to some extent. But there is a lot of assuming and conjecturing and inferring that must happen to turn books into biographies.
This is a relatively short book of just over two hundred pages. Although it seems to cover every observed incident of Salinger leaving his rural home to go to the grocery store or the post office, our picture of the author remains fuzzy. Salinger married twice. The first lasted only briefly and the second produced a son and a daughter. The daughter Margaret Salinger wrote a book in 2000 that is rated 3.27 on GR.
Other books about Salinger that I have on my bookshelf:
Salinger, A Biography
J.D. Salinger, A Life
Dream Catcher, A Memoir
At Home in the World: A Memoir
I found this book readable both in writing style and in interesting content. It talked about the process of researching and writing the book since it was prohibited by a court decision from being published in its original form with excerpts from unpublished letters from Salinger to various people. The letters allowed the author to reach some conclusions about Salinger’s life and work but the supporting material could not be included. There are footnotes.
With some regret I am giving In Search of J.D. Salinger three stars. It might deserve better but when I compare it with J.D. Salinger, A Life, it does not come close. I would have to read other biographies of Salinger to know better where this one fits in the pack.
October 29, 2009
I picked this up because of Nick Hornby's Housekeeping vs. the Dirt, which I was browsing one evening, procrastinating more important responsibilities. "Housekeeping" is Hornby's journal of a year of book buying and reading. He spoke highly of Ian Hamilton, and I had recently gone through a Salinger phase, so I was ready to enjoy this for a couple of reasons.
Hamilton's detective style writing is fun and I suppose he covers pretty much what there is to know about Jerome David Salinger, the best news being that the recluse HAS been writing for the past few decades. Cool. The glimpses we get of Salinger's personality are, however, somewhat less than endearing, and I find myself having to appreciate his books for my enjoyment of them rather than the impression I have of Salinger as a person. I can do that.
I also discovered I can muster the stamina a 200 page biography requires; I have numerous literary biographies on my shelves which have rarely been opened past page 10 or so. Plan to seek out the other two books I know of that may have additional information on JDS: Dreamcatcher, by his daughter, Margaret Salinger, and another biography from 1999 by Paul Alexander.
Hamilton's detective style writing is fun and I suppose he covers pretty much what there is to know about Jerome David Salinger, the best news being that the recluse HAS been writing for the past few decades. Cool. The glimpses we get of Salinger's personality are, however, somewhat less than endearing, and I find myself having to appreciate his books for my enjoyment of them rather than the impression I have of Salinger as a person. I can do that.
I also discovered I can muster the stamina a 200 page biography requires; I have numerous literary biographies on my shelves which have rarely been opened past page 10 or so. Plan to seek out the other two books I know of that may have additional information on JDS: Dreamcatcher, by his daughter, Margaret Salinger, and another biography from 1999 by Paul Alexander.
October 13, 2012
This is the book that made life difficult for biographers. Not that Ian Hamilton intended to do so. But his use of Salinger's letters became the tipping point for the reclusive author, who sued the biographer. In an unfortunate ruling Harold Baer virtually destroyed the idea of fair use for unpublished writing. Congress has since rectified the judge's decision but not before that decision had a chilling impact on the publishing industry. Hamilton turns his thwarted book into a kind of Search for Corvo, which is a clever biography but also an example of a desperate biographer who discovers he does not have enough reliable data. Hamilton's book is not in the same league as Search for Corvo, but you learn a good deal about the nature of biography and something as well about J. D. Salinger. Harold Baer, by the way, is at it again--this time making it difficult for authors who are scanned by Google. Is someone out there writing a book about Harold Baer's worst decisions?
November 16, 2010
Ho comprato questo libro per capire perchè Salinger si é ritirato a vita privata.
Ora l'ho capito. Ma, nonsotante questo, non sono riuscita ad apprezzare il libro per le troppe parti in cui i due biografi hanno supposto delle cose dell'autore e perchè troppo spesso si è cercato di capire chi dei personaggi narrati fosse Salinger.
Insomma mi stato utile capire il contesto storico e sociale in cui Salingere ha scritto, mi ha aiutato a capire come sono nati racconti e romanzi splendidi ma no, non mi è piaciuto.
E fossi stata in Salinger sarei fuggito molto prima e avrei citato in giudizio chiunque.
Ora l'ho capito. Ma, nonsotante questo, non sono riuscita ad apprezzare il libro per le troppe parti in cui i due biografi hanno supposto delle cose dell'autore e perchè troppo spesso si è cercato di capire chi dei personaggi narrati fosse Salinger.
Insomma mi stato utile capire il contesto storico e sociale in cui Salingere ha scritto, mi ha aiutato a capire come sono nati racconti e romanzi splendidi ma no, non mi è piaciuto.
E fossi stata in Salinger sarei fuggito molto prima e avrei citato in giudizio chiunque.
February 8, 2010
I used to own this but have lost it somewhere during 6 or 7 times I've moved in the last decade. This is really the only good biography of Salinger -- Paul Alexander's is all rumors and gossip, and the ones by literary critics are too hoity-toity. The final chapter is perhaps the most interesting.
A few choice quotes from the dust-jackets of the first editions of Salinger's books made me realize / reminded me just how much he actually did reveal about the autobiographical nature of his work. He actually referred to Buddy Glass as "my alter ego!"
A few choice quotes from the dust-jackets of the first editions of Salinger's books made me realize / reminded me just how much he actually did reveal about the autobiographical nature of his work. He actually referred to Buddy Glass as "my alter ego!"
September 4, 2007
this is a very interesting, if slightly frustrating biograpy of JD Salinger. I had tried to read one before which was very trite and boring - while it described Salinger's reclusiveness, it did not explore it or try to solve the mystery. That mystery solving what I liked about this book, however there is no Da Vinci Code-like Holy Grail lying in wait at the end, only some disappointing legal wranglings.
March 14, 2013
http://lepaginestrappate.wordpress.co...
[...] Sono tanti i motivi per cui leggere In cerca di Salinger è stata un’esperienza… interessante. Sia per il fremito di sporcarsi le mani frugando nella vita di un “mito”, sia per l’emozione di riscoprire dettagli di opere amate. Ma soprattutto per le riflessioni che la lettura stimola. E il diritto al silenzio.
[...] Sono tanti i motivi per cui leggere In cerca di Salinger è stata un’esperienza… interessante. Sia per il fremito di sporcarsi le mani frugando nella vita di un “mito”, sia per l’emozione di riscoprire dettagli di opere amate. Ma soprattutto per le riflessioni che la lettura stimola. E il diritto al silenzio.
February 13, 2011
Sadly Mr. Salinger is dead, but during life he was crazy about his privacy. When an unauthorized biography was in the works the author and THE AUTHOR had exchanges. When the courts ruled against him, the guy wrote a book about his efforts to write the book, and, as you can guess, a lot of the illegal manuscript ended up in this alternate version.
November 19, 2017
Gonzo style Hamilton chases around the famously reclusive (so no doubt neurotic, paranoid and grumpy) Salinger. Hamilton is more thoughtful than HST, Plimpton or the hilarious nutter who stalked Graham Greene so this is an independent work of great writing skill as well as a companion piece to Salinger's great pieces
November 14, 2014
I just love a good mystery. And even though it was another low moment for our judicial system, the section where they ask Salinger all those questions under oath about what he's been working on was just kind of amazing. Amazing and also sick-making at the same time. A fun book for Salinger fans, probably. I dug it anyways.
September 10, 2011
A fascinating book. Says more about Hamilton than about Salinger but that's okay. A very interesting journey and, of course, the background to the court case which changed how scholars could use author's personal letters, documents, etc.
August 19, 2014
This book did a tremendous job making me feel sorry for Salinger. I thoroughly enjoyed the excerpts from his letters, but even more so Hamilton's own battle with the right and wrong of publishing this information. It's a real goodread!
February 23, 2016
Fascinating if frustrating. Hamilton's book is the memoir of a thwarted biographer, with the reclusive Mr. Salinger lurking behind the castle walls pouring down boiling oil.... The reader leaves the book more tantalized, if possible, than at the start.
Read
August 15, 2007LOL Salinger is painfully crotchety.
Thank you, Ian Hamilton.
Thank you, Ian Hamilton.
August 2, 2008
J.D. Salinger is one weird dude. He seems like a real manipulative jerk, but I still love his writing.
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