About the Author

Kenneth Slawenski is the creator of DeadCaulfields.com, a website founded in 2004 and recommended by "The New York Times." He has been working on this biography for eight years. Slawenski was born in New Jersey, and has lived there all his life.

Reviews

Praise from the U.K. for "Salinger: A Life"

"A first-rate book which is especially good on the links between Salinger's fictions and their thematic developments . . . The passages on Salinger's own war show that Slawenski can be an excellent storyteller himself, as he follows his subject through the thick of the horrors from D-Day to the Battle of the Bulge."--"The Daily Telegraph "

"A welcome trove of information. Partly through exhaustive biographical research (especially into the early years) and partly through porings over almost unknown, uncollected stories, Slawenski enthrallingly illuminates what turned Salinger into an extraordinary literary phenomenon."--"The Sunday Times "

"Slawenski sets about his task with such unblushing love and zest that his book is as irresistible to me as Salinger himself. . . . Slawenski has a priceless humility and a sympathy with his subject which is unstinting though not unqualified. As a result, I think you get from him a rather better idea of what Salinger was really like and why he lived his life as he did than you might from a biography which is licensed to describe itself as 'scholarly' or 'authorised.' . . . If you can imagine Salinger having a soft spot for any book about him . . . then Slawenski's might be the one."--"The Spectator "
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"Diligent, respectful, resolute in its refusal to include gossip, always ready to acknowledge the point at which evidence ends and speculation begins."--"The Mail on Sunday "

Praise from the U.K. for "Salinger: A Life"
"A first-rate book which is especially good on the links between Salinger's fictions and their thematic developments . . . The passages on Salinger's own war show that Slawenski can be an excellent storyteller himself, as he follows his subject through the thick of the horrors from D-Day to the Battle of the Bulge."--"The Daily Telegraph "
"A welcome trove of information. Partly through exhaustive biographical research (especially into the early years) and partly through porings over almost unknown, uncollected stories, Slawenski enthrallingly illuminates what turned Salinger into an extraordinary literary phenomenon."--"The Sunday Times "
"Slawenski sets about his task with such unblushing love and zest that his book is as irresistible to me as Salinger himself. . . . Slawenski has a priceless humility and a sympathy with his subject which is unstinting though not unqualified. As a result, I think you get from him ad

Jerome David Salinger (1919-2010), whose novels were quite daring when first published and have since become required reading for students, was one of America's best-known literary recluses. Slawenski has written-and Norman Dietz reads-a biography intended to give a larger sense of Salinger's life, times, and works. The biographer's timing was perfect; serious readers are still aware of and curious about Salinger. Slawenski gives his readers a sense of the author's childhood and background, makes connections between Salinger and other well-known artists of his time (for example, Ernest Hemingway), and offers an explanation as to why Salinger retreated to New Hampshire. Dietz, who has been named one of the Best Voices of the Century, offers a pleasurable listening experience. Academics and literary readers will appreciate the work. ["Salinger enthusiasts will want to read this, so libraries should certainly purchase," read the review of the Los Angeles Times and New York Times best-selling Random House hc, LJ 1/11; the pb, also from Random House, will publish in January 2012.-Ed.]-Pam Kingsbury, Univ. of North Alabama, Florence (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.