J. D. Salinger_ A Life - Kenneth Slawenski [112]
Naturally, there were also less favorable reviews, but these were relatively few in number and they generally found fault with the novel’s language and idiom. A number of critics were offended by Holden’s repeated use of “goddam” and especially the phrase “fuck you.” In 1951, these were shocking expletives for any novel. Not surprisingly, The Catholic World and The Christian Science Monitor found such language “repellent” and “vulgar.” The New York Herald Tribune reacted by saying that the novel “repeats and repeats, like an incantation … casually obscene.”
Mimicking Holden Caulfield, James Stern of The New York Times published a clever article on July 15 titled “Aw, the World’s a Crumby Place.” Using Holden’s voice, the article follows a girl named Helga, who, after reading “For Esmé—with Love and Squalor,” excitedly consumes Salinger’s novel. Though the article appears to taunt Salinger and mock his writing style, it ends with Helga “reading this crazy ‘Catcher’ book all over again” and noting, “That’s always a good sign.”24
Catcher soon emerged onto the New York Times best-seller list and would remain there for the next seven months, reaching the number four spot in August. Its popularity was due largely to the delivery of the Book-of-the-Month Club edition on the doorsteps of thousands of homes, which multiplied the novel’s readership exponentially and ensured Salinger’s fame in households throughout the nation.
Apart from the gigantic photograph that he so abhorred, the Book-of-the-Month Club version also came with a lengthy profile of the author. Salinger had agreed to grant the interview only because it was to be conducted by New Yorker editor William Maxwell, a friend whom Salinger trusted to present him in the kindest of lights. Still, as with previous interviews, he gave away as little personal information as possible.
The profile cited Salinger’s childhood, his army service, and the highlights of his career—which, not surprisingly, consisted of his New Yorker stories. It also dwelled upon Salinger’s professionalism. According to Maxwell, Salinger wrote “with infinite labor, infinite patience and infinite thought for the technical aspects of what he is writing, none of which must show in the final draft.” He added that “Such writers go straight to heaven when they die, and their books are not forgotten.” The summary then quotes Salinger commenting with deliberate humility that the “compensations” of writing “are few, but when they come, if they come, they’re very beautiful.”25
Above all, Maxwell’s interview stressed the author’s connection with New York City, especially places associated with the movements of Holden Caulfield in the book. By placing Salinger in Central Park and its lagoon, and taking a cab to Grand Central Station while home from boarding school, Maxwell drew attention to the similarities between J. D. Salinger and Holden Caulfield. From a publicity point of view, the move was brilliant. But if the author sought to dissuade readers from perceiving him as the novel’s protagonist, the Maxwell interview crushed that possibility. By aligning himself so closely with Holden’s character in the biographical description, Salinger sparked an immediate interest among his readers to learn more about the author. How Salinger, so concerned with protecting his privacy, did not suspect this outcome remains a mystery.
Maxwell’s piece stated that Salinger “is now living in a rented house in Westport, Connecticut, with, for company and distraction, a Schnauzer named Benny, who, he says, is terribly anxious to please and always has been.” This disclosure must have made Salinger nervous. Westport was not a large community, and Salinger doubtless envisioned himself pursued by readers seeking out a lanky young man (whose features they would