J. D. Salinger be a prequel to "The Catcher in the Rye". Jerome David Salinger was born in Manhattan, New York on January 1, 1919. His father, Sol Salinger, sold kosher cheese, and was from a Jewish family of Lithuanian descent, his own father having been the rabbi for the Adath Jeshurun Congregation in Louisville, Kentucky. Salinger's mother, Marie ("née" Jillich), was born in Atlantic, Iowa, of German, Irish, and Scottish descent, but changed her name to Miriam and considered herself Jewish after marrying Salinger's father. Salinger did not learn that his mother was not of Jewish ancestry until just after he celebrated
J. D. Salinger without fear of interference. On October 23, 1992, "The New York Times" reported, "Not even a fire that consumed at least half his home on Tuesday could smoke out the reclusive J. D. Salinger, author of the classic novel of adolescent rebellion, "The Catcher in the Rye". Mr. Salinger is almost equally famous for having elevated privacy to an art form." In 1999, 25 years after the end of their relationship, Joyce Maynard auctioned a series of letters Salinger had written her. Maynard's memoir of her life and her relationship with Salinger, "At Home in the World: A Memoir", was