I'm not a big Sanger fan myself. As a working-class kid, I just don't get Holden Caulfield. But reading about his war experiences, I'm inclined to go back for a second look. I knew some guys -- knew one in particular very well -- who fought in the war, and you can skip the Hollywood outlook: It was unimaginably awful.
Given that his experiences in the war had caused Salinger to have a breakdown, I find it altogether believable that writing, for him, had become a form of private 'prayer' whose results he was disinclined to share."
I've long assumed that Salinger's wartime experiences explain the behavior that younger, fame-crazed writers have dubbed "reclusiveness." If I'd seen some of the most horrible aspects of World War II, I doubt I'd much care whether or not I got profiled by the New Yorker or attended all the swellest parties.
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