Rating: ****
Tags: Lang:en
Publisher: Ishi Press International
Added: April 4, 2020
Modified: November 5, 2021
Summary
J. D. Salinger wrote one of the most famous books ever
written, The Catcher in the Rye. Salinger wrote many stories
and, in 1941, after several rejections, Salinger finally
cracked The New Yorker, with a story, "Slight Rebellion Off
Madison," that was an early sketch of what became a scene in
"The Catcher in the Rye". The magazine then had second
thoughts in part because of World War II in which Salinger
was in combat, and held the story for five years before
finally publishing it in 1946, buried in the back of an
issue. Everyone was surprised when the story and the book
that followed it became a bit hit. Even today nobody can
really explain why Catcher in the Rye is so famous and so
popular. Yet, millions have been sold and are still being
sold even though only available as used books nowadays. When
The Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951, it was
registered for copyright as "additional material". This
obviously referred to the earlier work "Slight Rebellion Off
Madison". The copyright page on "The Catcher in the Rye"
states "Copyright 1945, 1946, 1951 by J. D Salinger". The
date of 1945 obviously refers to the publication of "I'm
Crazy", a short story written by Salinger and published in
the December 22, 1945 issue of Collier's magazine that first
introduced the character Holden Caulfield to the reading
public. Salinger later reworked this short story to
incorporate it into The Catcher in the Rye. The two earlier
stories are "I'm Crazy", an early version of Holden's
departure from prep school that later shows up in The Catcher
in the Rye. With minor alteration, much of this story is
familiar to readers as the chapter where Holden visits Mr.
Spencer. What sets this story apart is the presence of an
additional Caulfield sister and the clarity of Holden's
resignation and compromise at the end. "Slight Rebellion off
Madison" is an early version of another scene in The Catcher
in the Rye. The story follows Holden when he is home from
Pency and goes to the movies, then skating with Sally Hayes,
followed by his drunken calls to her apartment late at night.
An early story, it is the first of Salinger's Caulfied works
to be accepted for publication.