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Meg Waite Clayton

New York Times Bestselling Author

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January 28, 2010 By Meg Waite Clayton

Calling loudly, "J.D. Salinger"

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.

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Filed Under: Meg's Posts, Writing Quotes and Other Literary Fun Tagged With: catcher in the rye, rejection, salinger

Meg Waite Clayton

Meg Waite Clayton is a New York Times and internationally bestselling author of THE LAST TRAIN TO LONDON, a Jewish Book Award finalist based on the true story of the Kindertransport rescue of ten thousand children from Nazi-occupied Europe—and one brave woman who helped them escape. Her six prior novels include the Langum-Prize honored The Race for Paris and The Wednesday Sisters, one of Entertainment Weekly's 25 Essential Best Friend Novels of all time. A graduate of the University of Michigan and its law school, she has also written for the Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The San Francisco Chronicle, Forbes, Runners World, and public radio, often on the subject of the particular challenges women face. megwaiteclayton.com

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  1. Writers’ Roundup: January 29 « Aspiring Author says:
    January 29, 2010 at 10:16 am

    […] quick but great tribute to J.D. Salinger, and the story of how he got started (and rejected) as a […]

    Reply

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