Born on the first of January in 1919, J.D. Salinger was a renowned writer throughout time. He had published other writings in the fiction genre, but it was his first publication for the New Yorker magazine was where he made his first appearance with his best-selling novel (one of his only novels, I believe): the Catcher in the Rye.
It was said that he effectively "...captured the hearts of several generations with his pitch-perfect knowledge of adolescence and his ear for the vernacular..." (New York Times). It is true; as soon as he came out with the story for the New Yorker magazine, it instantly got a lot of followers. The reason it was so popular was because the main character--Holden Caulfield--differentiated from other main characters in literature at the time...especially since he was an American teenager with many problems (quite symbolical to our society now). Holden was rebellious, he was witty, he was sarcastic, and most importantly, he was different from the usual.
Of course, for every positive quality to something there is always a negative to counter it; many critics discouraged the fact that Salinger freely used vulgarity for the language in his book, but even so, most reviews were "exultant" as the Catcher in the Rye remained at the top of the New York Times best-seller list for at least several months, fully establishing the Catcher in the Rye cult.
"For decades the book was a universal rite of passage for adolescents, the manifesto of disenchanted youth.But what matters is that even for the millions of people who weren't crazy, Holden Caulfield, Salinger's petulant, yearning (and arguably manic-depressive) young hero was the original angry young man. That he was also a sensitive soul in a cynic's armor only made him more irresistible." (Time Magazine)
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