J. D. Salinger_ A Life - Kenneth Slawenski [111]
Hamilton began a nightly ritual of taking Salinger out on the town, where they eventually took in every decent play in London’s West End.18 On one such occasion, Salinger first experienced some of the discomfort that Catcher’s publication would generate. Treating Salinger to the theater, Hamilton had chosen two Cleopatra plays starring the legendary actor Sir Laurence Olivier and Olivier’s wife, Vivien Leigh. “The Oliviers,” as Hamilton referred to them, were personal friends of his, and he had chosen the plays to impress his new colleague. After the theater, Olivier and Leigh invited Hamilton’s group to their Chelsea home for dinner. While Salinger thought it a “very posh evening,” he was also uneasy. In The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield describes seeing Olivier in the 1948 film Hamlet. “I just don’t see what’s so marvelous about Sir Laurence Olivier,” Holden complains. “He was too much like a goddam general, instead of a sad, screwed-up type guy.”19 In other words, Holden considered Olivier a “phony,” and there was Salinger, forced to sit through dinner and exchange niceties with the very brunt of his condemnation. As the night wore on, he felt more and more like a phony himself. The incident still resonated with Salinger after he had returned home, and he sent Hamilton (who, having read the book, should have known better in the first place) a long letter explaining that he did not share the same viewpoint as Holden Caulfield on the sincerity of Olivier’s acting. He asked Hamilton to pass the sentiments and his apology on to Olivier.* Hamilton did so, and Salinger received a gracious letter from the actor in reply.20
While in London, Salinger purchased a Hillman car that he used to explore Britain. With no set itinerary, he drove through England and Scotland and visited Ireland and the Scottish Hebrides. He was enthralled by everything he saw, and his letters and postcards sparkle with enthusiasm and childlike delight. At Stratford-upon-Avon, he paused before the theater and debated with himself between paying homage to Shakespeare and rowboating with a young lady. The lady won out. In Oxford, he attended Evensong at Christ Church. In Yorkshire, he swore that he saw the Brontë sisters running across the moors. He was delighted by Dublin but fell in love with Scotland most of all and actually wrote of settling down there.21
J. D. Salinger in 1950. This photo embellished the original back cover of The Catcher in the Rye. The photograph so irritated Salinger that he insisted it be removed. (Lotte Jacobi, University of New Hampshire)
After seven weeks in Britain, Salinger succumbed to a sense of anticipation and decided to return home in time for the American debut of The Catcher in the Rye. Making his way back to London, he met again with Jamie Hamilton and purchased a first-class ticket to New York. On July 5, he boarded the Mauretania at Southampton and arrived home on the evening of July 11, five days before his novel’s publication.22 He did not return alone; he brought the Hillman with him.
• • •
The Catcher in the Rye was published on July 16, 1951, in both the United States and Canada. After the success of “For Esmé—with Love and Squalor,” expectations were high. When critical reviews of the novel began to appear, they exceeded those expectations. The depth of reaction also indicated that The Catcher in the Rye would have a greater public impact than Salinger could have hoped for, or perhaps could deal with.
Playing on the “Esmé” theme, Time magazine ran a review of Catcher entitled “With Love & 20-20 Vision.” It praised the novel’s depth and (to Salinger’s certain delight) compared the author to Ring Lardner. “The prize catch in The Catcher in the Rye,” commented Time, “may well be Novelist Salinger himself.”23 The New York Times called Catcher “unusually brilliant.” The Saturday Review praised it for being “remarkable