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J. D. Salinger and the Nazis
Eberhard Alsen
Uncovering the impact of Salinger's World War II experience
Before J.D. Salinger became famous for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye and infamous as a literary recluse, he was a soldier in World War II. While serving in the U.S. Army's Counter Intelligence Corps (CIC) in Europe, Salinger wrote more than twenty short stories and returned home with a German war bride. Eberhard Alsen, through meticulous archival research and careful analysis of the literary record, corrects mistaken assumptions about the young writer's war years and their repercussions. Though recent biographies and films claim that Salinger regularly participated in combat, Alsen cites military documents showing that his counterintelligence work was well behind the front lines.
Alsen, a longtime Salinger scholar who witnessed the Nazi regime firsthand as a child in Germany, tracks Salinger's prewar experiences in the army, his work for the CIC during significant military campaigns, and his reactions to three military disasters that killed more than a thousand fellow soldiers in his Fourth Infantry Division. Alsen also identifies the Nazi death camp where Salinger saw mounds of recently burned bodies. Revealing details shed light on Salinger's outspoken disgust for American military leaders, the personality changes that others saw in him after the war, and his avoidance of topics related to the Holocaust.
Eberhard Alsen is a professor emeritus of English at Cortland College, State University of New York. He is the author of several books, including A Reader's Guide to J.D. Salinger and Salinger's Glass Stories as a Composite Novel.
Praise
“A convincing documentary narrative providing an important record of Salinger's life during the war. Alsen presents a great deal of compelling new evidence that needs to be available for readers and scholars.”
—John Wenke, author of J.D. Salinger: A Study of the Short Fiction
“A question driving Alsen's research and analysis of Salinger's early stories is, What did Jerry Salinger think, feel, and write about Nazis?”
—Sarah Elbert, editor of The American Prejudice against Color
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Larger images
April 2018
LC: 2017044807 PS
168 pp. 6 x 9
24 b/w illus.
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