1. BELL-WORK
Today, I want you to imagine that you are the author of the next “Great American Novel,” but no one can ever know you wrote the novel, and no one can ever know what you meant by the words you wrote. You can never have a say in your own story. How do you feel?

2. PLANNER: Tonight’s Homework
Syllabus signed sheet due tomorrow!
Paragraph on story and what it means due tomorrow

3. J.D. Salinger

4. J.D. Salinger Born in New York in 1919
Raised in a Jewish family-- why might this matter?
Served in the Army during WWII
After the war, suffered “shell-shock”-- stays in the hospital
Worked for a long time to get his writing published
Finally, his short story “A Slight Rebellion off Madison” was published in the New Yorker
This would later become the full novel The Catcher in the Rye

5. Life and Legacy
After the publication of The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger never did much else
He had made his impact-- it is not quite known whether or not he had wished to make this impact with his writing
He published a few more short stories, but never another full-length novel
Instead, Salinger moved away from the New York life and went on to live in seclusion

6. Holden Knowing now what you do about Salinger, how is Holden similar?
Talk in your groups about what you might see both in Holden and in Salinger

7. Author vs. Text
There is an argument in the literary world-- ways that we read texts
Do we remove an author entirely from the work, or does the context of the author matter?
Do we only take the text for what it is?
I will leave that decision up to you.

8. HOMEWORK
Tonight, I want you to consider the life of J.D. Salinger and the impact that he made on post-war America.
Why do you think Salinger hid away for the rest of his life? Keep it logical. No strange reasons or conspiracies.
Think in the parameters of the novel. Would Holden maybe have hid himself away as well?