The Silence of the Celebrity: J.D. Salinger (1919–2010)

After a youth spent in high-society circles and the incredible success of his debut novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951), J.D. Salinger withdrew from the literary limelight. His reclusiveness, however, made him only more famous. His worldly withdrawal became an important trademark: it led to a constant stream of gossip and wild speculations about his life and work. After his death, Salinger’s literary stardom is undiminished and has even found its way into popular culture. This chapter traces the construction of the Salinger myth that informs the author’s public persona. The chapter argues that the author’s reticence intensified the semantic and affective potential of his public image: by closing himself off, Salinger opened his authorial persona up to a wide range of interpretations.