In 1941, J.D. Salinger had seven stories rejected by The New Yorker. Apparently undaunted, he submitted an eighth the same year, “Slight Rebellion off Madison,” which was accepted. BUT, it was about a disaffected teenager (can you guess his name?) nervous about the war, and in the wake of Pearl Harbor was deemed unpublishable – so did not see print for another five years.
In 1946, Whit Burnett negotiated a $1,000 advance to publish a collection of Salinger’s stories with Story Press’s Lippincott Imprint. But Lippincott rejected the book.
Salinger had been writing since he was in school in the 1930s, but it wasn’t until the 1951 that his first book was published. And that, of course, was The Catcher in the Rye.
When asked who influenced his writing, Salinger said, “A writer, when he’s asked to discuss his craft, ought to get up and call out in a loud voice just the names of the writers he loves.” He named a list of writers he loved, all deceased. Then went on to say, “I won’t name any living writers. I don’t think it’s right.”
I’m sad to say that all you writers out there, published or not, can call out in your loudest voice today the name J.D. Salinger.
