J. D. Salinger J. D. Salinger Jerome David Salinger (; January 1, 1919 January 27, 2010) was an American writer known for his widely read novel, "The Catcher in the Rye". Following his early success publishing short stories and "The Catcher in the Rye", Salinger led a very private life for more than a half-century. He published his final original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980. Salinger was raised in Manhattan and began writing short stories while in secondary school. Several were published in "Story" magazine in the early 1940s before he began serving in World War II. In
J. D. Salinger do with his vegetarianism as an adult. He left Austria one month before it was annexed by Nazi Germany on March 12, 1938. In the fall of 1938, Salinger attended Ursinus College in Collegeville, Pennsylvania, and wrote a column called "skipped diploma", which included movie reviews. He dropped out after one semester. In 1939, Salinger attended the Columbia University School of General Studies, where he took a writing class taught by Whit Burnett, longtime editor of "Story" magazine. According to Burnett, Salinger did not distinguish himself until a few weeks before the end of the second semester, at which point