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- Dear Whit.
I regret to inform you that Holden Caulfield is dead.
I know you thought he could protect me.
Or at the very least give me refuge from my sarcasm.
But Holden is gone forever.
And I don't know if anything can save me now.
- Oh, where's your girl, Jerry?
Where'd she go?
- Ah, she wanted to dance with her brother.
- That's a tight family.
- You know, the Lusitania making it to England
is more hopeful than getting laid at this rat trap.
- Oh, I don't know.
Spoiled rich girls love college dropouts.
They're all dying to tell their fathers,
"He's not only broke, Daddy, he's also a Jew."
- Hey, half Jew.
Why do we keep coming here?
I can't stand all these flits and phonies.
- To give girls like that the time.
- Who is that?
- Oona O'Neill.
- What, as in Eugene O'Neill?
- That's her dad.
Rumor is she's got a thing for writers.
- Maybe I can get her drunk and read her one of my stories.
- The drunk part, yes.
Not so sure about the second.
I've read your work.
- You're a real prince of a guy.
Who are the bodyguards?
- Blythe Chaucer and Carol Flourentine.
Her protectors from morphine addicts
and boys without trust funds.
You even try to give Oona the time,
they'll take your watch away.
- Okay.
I'm going in.
Ladies, Oona.
- Hello.
- It's a pleasure to meet you.
I'm Jerome David Salinger.
My friends call me Jerry.
- It's a pleasure to meet you, Jerome David Salinger.
- I'm a huge admirer of your father.
I'm a writer myself, and his plays
have been a great source of inspiration to me.
- What do you write?
- I write short stories.
- Really?
- Have you been published?
Come on, Oona.
I want to introduce you to Billy Chandler.
- He's here?
- He is.
- Oh, right now?
Oh. - Great.
- Let's go.
- Until me meet again, Jerome David Salinger.
- Come on, Oona doll.
Billy.
- Excuse me, sir, do you happen to know the time?
That went well.
- Through the course
of my fascinatingly dull life I've always found fiction
so much more truthful than reality.
And yes, I'm aware of the irony.
He had neither the looks, personality, or good clothes
to gain Shirley's interest.
He didn't have a chance.
And as I said before, to write a really good
boy meets girl story it's wise
to have the boy meet the girl.
- I can't concentrate with you staring at me like that.
- Well do you like it?
- It's really good.
- You can tell me the truth.
- I am.
It's terrific.
Tie your shoes, sonny.
- So what do you think, Mom?
- I love the kids, I love the way they talk.
- Yeah, 'cause in the slicks the teens always sound phony
because they're written by 50 year old drunks.
You know, it just kills me.
- Well, you're really talented.
- I think I want to try to publish.
- How would you do that?
- I want to go back to school, study creative writing.
- You what?
You get kicked out of every school I send you to
because of that smart alec mouth of yours.
How do you possibly believe
you could be a professional writer?
- I don't know.
I just like doing it.
- He's very talented, Sol.
- Even if he is, it's impossible to make
a living at it even for the best of students.
You're not even a good student.
- I can't do anything right.
- Sonny, sonny, come here, sit down.
It's all right, please.
I, I just don't want you to be disappointed
when it doesn't work out.
And it won't.
It never does.
Listen to me.
Meat and cheese distribution
has been very good to this family.
Six years ago Buddy Richmond was practically broke.
He buys a slaughterhouse and now he's king of the bacon.
That could be you, sonny boy.
- Jerry is not going to sell cheese,
or pigs, or cows, or milk.
He is not going to be the king of the bacon.
He is going to go to Columbia.
He is going to study writing.
That's what Jerry is going to do,
and you are going to pay for it.
- I bet if I never walked
into your class that day then Holden Caulfield
probably wouldn't even exist.
So in a way this whole mess
is as much your fault as it is mine.
- There is nothing more sacred than story.
The Bible, the Quran, the Torah,
the stories contained in these books are so powerful
that people actually believe they were written by a God.
That is the power that a story can hold.
And in the course of this semester
you will be given the tools and the techniques
to be able to create your own stories
so that you can enrapture people, move...
- I was always a lousy student,
even when I wanted to be there.
It was pretty embarrassing, if you want to know the truth.
- How does that sound, Mr. Salinger?
- I'm so sorry, you lost me at Bible.
- Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Salinger.
Did you think that this course was a study in atheism?
- No, no, I didn't.
But I'm hoping there really is a god
that'll give you something interesting to say.
- Funny, I had the same thought
when I read your admissions essay.
Although they still let you in.
It must be a very lean year for Columbia.
Mr. Salinger wrote an essay, very funny,
brimming with exactly the sort of sarcasm
that he so beautifully displayed here
in the first five minutes of the course.
And yet after that Mr. Salinger failed
to turn that clever voice of his into an actual narrative.
Which is a shame, because there is some potential there.
But this is the work we will all be striving to achieve.
And by the end of this semester, God willing,
or in Mr. Salinger's case, unwilling,
you will all understand the difference
between wanting to be a writer and actually being one.
- My countrymen and my friends.
I had hoped against hope that some miracle
would prevent a devastating war in Europe
and bring to an end the invasion of Poland by Germany.
I have said many times that I have seen war and I hate war.
I hope the United States will keep out of this war.
I believe that it will.
- Oh Mr. Salinger.
Come in, have a seat.
Would you like a drink?
- Coffee, please.
So, how did you find me here?
- Oh, I used to go to NYU and I always
saw you grading papers in the window.
Hey, why do you come all the way down to the Village?
- I couldn't think of a better place to read the work
of the next Fitzgerald or Hemingway
than right here in Greenwich Village.
- Sir.
- Thank you.
- What about you?
What happened at NYU?
They kick you out for that mouth of yours?
- No, it was a mutual understanding.
They wanted me gone and I wanted them dead.
- Well you're not the first
wise ass I've taught, you know?
You act out at authority figures like me
because you're emotionally repressed at home.
You also think you're the cleverest boy
that ever walked the planet
and no one recognizes what a genius you are.
It's pretty typical stuff, if you want to know the truth.
But enough of my dime store Freud.
What can I do for you, Mr. Salinger?
- Well, I wanted to ask about
what you talked about in class.
You know, my voice overwhelming the story.
I always thought my voice is what defines me as a writer.
- Absolutely.
Your voice is what makes your story unique.
But when that voice overwhelms the story,
as it did in your admissions essay,
then it becomes an expression more of your ego
than of the emotional experience of the reader.
Does that make sense?
- Kind of.
- No.
- I'd apologize for being late.
But since I'm going to be late
for every single class this semester
I'm going to instead save my strength
for the reading of your pages and heavy drinking.
Now today I want to focus on the writer's voice.
And to illustrate this I'm going to
read a passage to you from William Faulkner.
All right now I want you to listen carefully.
In fact, close your eyes.
The jailer cut her down and then revived her.
Then he beat her and whipped her.
She had hung herself with her dress.
All right, so, what happened?
- A woman in jail tried to commit suicide.
And after the jailer saved her, he beat her.
- Exactly.
This is why I let women audit my classes.
Hopefully the rest of the university will soon follow suit.
All right now, I read this passage
in as dull a voice as I could possibly muster,
and yet you were still all engaged by the passage.
Why?
Because the events of the story were compelling,
thematically layered, and dramatic.
Now of course Faulkner is famous for his voice
with its unique regional style.
And so therefore even the non-writer
thinks that they love Faulkner.
But in fact it is the events of the story,
the attempted suicide, the beating that draws us in.
And then Faulkner uses his voice
to make the story uniquely his own.
Does that make sense?
For our next class I want you all
to write a five page story.
Ask yourselves, if I were to read this in a monotone
would I still keep the class' attention?
Okay, well I'm really not going to do
any better than that today, so that's it.
You can use the rest of the time
to write your story or masturbate.
Just try not to confuse the former with the latter.
God knows there's many an author
who has failed at that very task.
Have a good weekend.
See you later, children.
- The one good thing about being stuck
in a nuthouse is everyone here
is in the same lousy shape as I am.
Truth be told, I never really fitted
anywhere in the whole goddam world.
Uptown I was a Jew, downtown I was a square.
But on occasion I could fool the girls
into thinking I was Clark Gable's cousin.
- Bravo, bravo.
- Keep giving 'em hell, Ernie.
- You know what?
I actually think I keep on getting kicked out of school
'cause I love how much it pisses my father off.
- That's hilarious.
You need to go with that.
You should write your story about that.
- Nah.
- You got your watch on?
- Yes, why?
- 'Cause you need to give that girl the time.
- Yes I do.
Hi. - Hi.
- So you like jazz?
- What do you think?
- So um, what do you do most of the time on weekends?
- I don't know.
What do you do most of the time on weekends?
- This and that.
- This and that?
I know that's code for sowing your wild oats.
- Sow your wild oats?
Sorry, I don't follow.
- Oh please.
Chase around, Joe College.
- "Sow the wild oats?
"I don't think I get your drift."
"You know, chase around, Joe College."
Suddenly from the other side of the room
a small blonde shrieked with laughter.
- Yes, it was very good.
Your voice was present and entertaining.
But it helped tell the story, it didn't become it.
- I felt it.
You know, I could tell when something
I wrote was too clever.
- Was it true?
- Some of it.
Some I made up.
- Well you know what we call that?
- What?
- Writing.
- So how do I get it published?
- Well that's a bit ambitious
for your first outing, don't you think?
- A real writer publishes, right?
That's the only way to make a living at it.
- Oh wait, let me guess, your father told you that.
- Well why don't you try the New Yorker?
I'm sure that would impress him.
- I was actually thinking Story Magazine.
I love their pieces.
- Do you know who the editor of Story is?
- Yeah, you.
- And on behalf of Story
I would like to thank you for your submission.
Unfortunately we're going to decline at this time.
But we do look forward to reading your future submissions.
Mr. Salinger, you're about to learn
the second most important lesson
in having a career as a writer.
Learning to deal with rejection.
- Well I'm going straight to the New Yorker,
and they're going to publish it,
and you're going to be sorry.
- I already am.
- Hi, I'm here to submit...
- Submit a short story?
Fill this out.
Leave your story.
We'll get back to you in four to six weeks.
- It's the first story I've ever submitted.
- Well that's a historic day for us all.
What's the J.D. stand for?
- It's juvenile delinquent.
- Don't write that.
- And I want those rewrites before next week.
And do not get used to the idea
of me staying for each class.
My dinner plans canceled.
Oh, it's your first rejection letter.
You have to get that framed.
- So what do I do now?
- You're a writer.
What do you think you do now?
- Write another story?
- Yes, and then write another one after that.
And then another one after that.
- Okay.
- And then another one after that!
- Perhaps my dreams of literary triumph
were the delusions of an egotistical
and overly ambitious boy who should have listened
when he was offered the chance to be the king of the bacon.
I could have been a king, Whit.
- I don't know if I'm cut out for this.
- Yeah, maybe you're not.
- You don't think I am?
- Well, let me ask you a question.
Why do you want to do this?
- Publish?
- No.
Be a writer.
Why do you want to write?
- Because I, I get angry about a lot of things.
And when I'm writing I feel like I'm doing something
about it, like I'm finally getting to speak my mind.
- You see, Jerry, this is what you need
to be doing in your writing.
Explore what it is that makes you angry
and then put that into a story.
No, no, no, but here's the catch.
You still may never publish.
- Never?
- Nope.
You may spend the rest of your life being rejected.
And now you have to ask yourself a question.
Are you willing to devote your life to telling stories
knowing that you may get nothing in return?
And if the answer to that question is no,
well then you should go out there
and find yourself something else to do with your life
because you are not a true writer.
Good day, thank you very much.
No, no, no, no, take your rejections with you.
- Would you look at this place?
It's beautiful.
You'll find something else you like to do, sonny.
You'll see.
And it'll be something you can actually make a buck at.
- Try not to worry about anything this week, dear.
It's a vacation and you should relax.
- She had immense eyes that always seemed
in danger of capsizing in their own innocence.
She was with a small boy, unmistakeably her brother.
And it was only when his sister spoke to him
that he came around and applied
the small of his back to his chair.
Now there are two kinds of femme fatale.
The noise of young people she'd invited.
Sewing, mastering crossword puzzles.
Her father's scotch was inadequate.
Inside somebody up turned up...
- Jerry, your sister didn't drive all the way up here
to watch you write in a lobby for five days.
Now, put that away and come with us for a stroll.
- I will in one hour.
I'm almost done, okay?
- What makes you think you have anything to say to people?
- Grow up.
- Oh Jerry, would you hang back for a minute.
Now that you have made a true commitment to your craft,
I think it's time.
- Time for what?
- For you to be published.
- In?
This is the first damn story I gave you.
- Oh, I loved it right away.
I just had to be sure you were a real writer
before I published it.
So, this is your first check as a real writer.
- Thank you.
Thank you so much.
- You're welcome.
Now go write another story.
- To publishing. - To publishing.
So, your old man finally impressed?
- No.
When I showed him the check he told me
I could finally afford a suit to get a real job.
- To hell with him.
He's just jealous because you're a paid writer.
He's nothing but a lousy Jew pig seller.
- Do you know he hides the fact
that he's Jewish from our neighbors?
Always has.
The first phony I ever met was on the clay I was born.
What the hell are they doing?
- The Stork Club advertises
that Oona comes here 'cause of her dad.
But they only photograph her drinking milk
because she's underage.
- That could be the most pathetic thing I've ever seen.
All right, that's my cue.
I'm going in. - Ooh.
- Oona.
- Mm.
- It's so lovely to see you again, Carol, Blythe.
- I'm Blythe.
- Great.
If you don't mind I'm going to give
the most beautiful girl in the world a twirl.
- Oh, all right.
I read your piece in Story.
- You read Story?
- I read everything.
- What did you think?
- I thought it was marvelous.
No, it was simply marvelous.
- Thank you.
You're without a doubt the most special girl I've ever seen.
- And you're very handsome, Jerome David Salinger.
What do you think?
- I love it.
- Yeah?
- Yeah, how long have you lived here?
- Just a few months.
But I don't think I'll be here much longer.
- Why, where are you going to go?
- Hollywood.
If I want to get into pictures
that's the place to be, right?
- Well, I used to want to be an actor.
- Really?
- But I hate Hollywood.
It's a bunch of driving jerks
making crap for knuckleheads that can't read.
- You're funny.
And you're so talented.
I love talent.
- Don't go to California.
- Why?
- I think it's better if you stay here,
stay here and do theater.
Have you asked your dad to put you in any of his plays?
- Mm-mm.
- Why?
- I guess, we don't speak very often.
- Um, I'm sorry I didn't.
- It's all right.
You know, I haven't seen him
since I was a little girl actually.
You know, I don't know why he doesn't love me.
I never did anything wrong.
- My dad doesn't love me either.
I should, I should, I should probably go.
- Jerry.
- No, it's...
- Jerry, you don't have to.
- If I get back to my writing
I could get a lot done tonight.
- Okay.
- Um,
do you want to go dancing Friday?
- Yes.
- Yes?
- Yes, I'd love to.
- All right, me too.
- Okay.
- Good. - Okay.
- That's the thing about girls.
Every time they do something pretty
you fall half in love with them.
And then you never know where the hell you are.
- Jerry, Jerry, Jerry, hang in there, my love.
I know it can be a slog
but you've got to stick out these dry spells.
Everyone loves the writing.
I get terrific feedback every time I submit you.
- Well that's terrific, but I haven't
had a story published in eight months.
- Well, have you thought about writing something
with a little more pop to it, most Post than New Yorker.
- No, I hate the Post.
It's a bunch of sentimental crap.
- I know.
- I want to be a New Yorker writer.
- And you will be, but it's never easy, my love.
There's no harm in dumbing it down once in a while.
We've just got to get you published again.
Publishing is everything.
- I don't even know what I should write about.
- Oh Jerry.
First of all, you need to relax.
You're not going to do better work being so stressed.
Take that pretty girlfriend of yours on a date.
Have some fun.
How's it going with her?
- Hey, Pearl.
- I'm sorry, Jerry, but Oona isn't here.
She left for the Hamptons this morning.
- She did what?
We had a date.
- You know Oona.
- Yeah, okay, thanks.
- Maybe I'm just not capable
of experiencing happiness like the fellow
that works at a lousy job
and has a pretty wife and a bunch of stupid kids.
Maybe I didn't lose my mind at all.
Maybe I never had it in the first place.
- You should get out of here, kid.
- He made his way into the men's room
and filled both washbowls with cold water.
"You want a towel, fella?" asked the piano player.
"Not me," said Holden.
"Why don't you go home, kid?"
Holden Caulfield went on drinking.
- Hello, it's me, Jerry Salinger.
I just want to speak to Oona.
- She's asleep.
Why are you calling so late?
- "This is me, Holden Caulfield.
"Can I speak to Sally, please?"
- I just want us to be together.
It doesn't have to be anything serious.
- It doesn't have to be anything serious?
- I don't want anything serious, no.
- Jerry, you just said otherwise.
- I, don't twist my words.
- You are just, you know what you are?
You're just such a phony.
- No, I'm not a phony. - You are.
You're just... - Go to hell.
Oona.
- What?
- Oona, can I call you tomorrow?
- His teeth chattering violently,
Holden Caulfield stood on the corner
and waited for the Madison Avenue bus.
- It was a long wait.
No, we didn't order champagne.
- I did.
I asked you here so we could celebrate.
- Ah, celebrate what?
- I have some exciting news.
The New Yorker read Slight Rebellion Off Madison,
and they want to publish it.
- The New Yorker?
- Yes, they love your Holden Caulfield character.
They feel he's completely original.
I'm so happy for you, Jerry.
- The New Yorker, I can't believe it.
- Well believe it, my love.
To publishing.
It really is everything.
Now they have a couple of notes
that they want you to address.
- Notes?
- Yes.
All writers have to go through this with every magazine.
And the New Yorker has more notes than most.
They want all their stories
to have a New Yorker signature to them.
- What if I don't want to do the notes?
- They told me their problems with the story.
Should I tell you?
- Sure, sure, okay, tell me their problems.
- First off, they think Holden's drinking
comes out of nowhere.
They want it to be clearer he's an alcoholic.
- No, he's not an alcoholic.
He's just getting drunk
because he's depressed about the girl.
- Well, they think that's unclear.
- I don't.
I think that's perfectly clear.
- Well maybe you can make a slight adjustment
so it's not confusing for some people.
Also they think it would be nice if in the end
Holden and Sally got back together.
They specifically said we don't need to see it.
We just want the reader
to have a sense that they'll end up...
- But they don't end up together.
That's not what happens.
- Why not?
- Because people don't end up together.
It usually doesn't work out.
Okay, I know in every goddam story in every goddam magazine
the couple always falls in love with a stupid kiss
to make us feel all warm and fuzzy
and full of Christmas cheer.
But that's not what happens in real life.
Someone always gets their heart broken
and has a hard time getting over it.
Sometimes they drink because they're upset,
even though they're not alcoholics.
I just want my writing to be truthful, that's all.
- So what would you like me to tell them?
- Tell them I'm very open to notes,
but Holden's not an alcoholic
and they don't end up together.
- Those are the only notes, Jerry.
- Well tell them I won't make those changes.
- You're so talented.
Give Oona a little twirl?
- So get this.
I told Oona about the New Yorker.
- And?
- We've already been out three times.
- To the New Yorker.
- The New Yorker.
- Did they have any notes?
- Who?
- The New Yorker.
Did they have any notes on the story?
- No.
- Well I'm not surprised they loved it.
That Holden character is fantastic.
It's exactly what I've been telling you
about digging deeper.
- Yeah, yeah, I felt it when I was writing him.
It just flowed out of me.
I want to keep writing stories about him.
- You should.
- Well.
- Another.
- You okay there, boss?
- Well, between you and me, things aren't great at Story.
Money is tight.
I mean, Martha watches the finances and me.
Apparently I'm still spending too much money.
- You'll have to shut it down?
- No, no, we'll be all right for now.
But it's been tough on us.
I got an eye.
I can spot talent coming a mile away.
Saroyan, Cheever, Caldwell, I discovered them all.
Of course, it would be nice if somebody discovered me.
- Hey, come on, you've been published.
- I not only discovered them,
I shaped them, I challenged them.
This is me.
You should continue to write about Holden,
but not as a short story.
- Well, hang on, wait, wait, wait, wait.
What do you mean?
- I think Holden Caulfield is a novel.
- No, no, I couldn't write a whole novel.
I'm a dash man, not a miler.
- You only say that because you're lazy.
Holden Caulfield deserves an entire book all on his own.
- A novel's a lot of words.
- It's just more words.
Imagine the book that you would want to read
and then go write it.
- Hey, Mom, what's wrong?
Mom.
Hey, what is it, what's happened?
- We interrupt this broadcast
to bring you this important bulletin from the United Press.
We have witnessed this morning the attack of Pearl Harbor
and the severe bombing of Pearl Harbor
by army planes, undoubtedly Japanese.
It's no joke, it's a real war.
- I don't care what you say.
I'm sending you socks every week
and you had better wear them.
- Please, you'll embarrass me.
They're going to supply everything I need and...
- Everyone, can I have your attention please?
As you all know, tomorrow morning
our son Jerry is going off to war.
Perhaps this will turn him into the man
I know he's destined to become.
- And I would like to propose a toast
to the best student I've ever had.
To Jerry, a wonderful writer,
an inspiration, and a great friend.
To Jerry.
- To Jerry.
- This may not be the best timing but I have some bad news.
- Really, what?
- The New Yorker isn't going to run
the Holden Caulfield story.
- Why not?
- They think it's too frivolous
now that we've entered the war.
I'm sorry, Jerry.
- No, it's fine.
Promise you'll wait for me.
- I promise.
- Really?
- Of course, Jerry.
- Well, she is an actress.
- Hey, hey, mark my words.
I will marry that girl.
- Well it's a good thing her father's
a comedy writer.
- Anyway, how's everything at the home front with you?
You good with Martha chewing your ear?
- Everything at my home is fine.
- Yeah?
- Because what you'll learn about having a wife
is that occasionally she just has to yell to feel better.
Oh, and by the way, I'm awfully sorry about the New Yorker.
- How'd you know about that?
- Oh please.
They canned the Caulfield story
because you wouldn't take any of their notes.
You know, you cannot be a pain in the ass
until you're a success.
- Yeah?
Well to hell with the New Yorker.
You know what?
I'll put it in an anthology with other short stories...
- No, no, no, don't do that, don't do that.
Don't do that to Holden Caulfield.
He deserves a novel.
- You really think so?
- I know so.
He's a fantastic character.
Listen to me.
While you're over there, you know,
getting clap from all those French whores, do me a favor.
I want you to write about him.
I want Holden Caulfield to be your best friend.
And listen to me.
Stay alive, all right?
Stay alive.
No matter what.
- After I enlisted in the army
I bounced from base to base
until they finally shipped me off to England.
I knew army food would be bad,
but they'd promised us a steak dinner
the night before the big invasion.
I just couldn't start the Caulfield novel.
That's why I kept sending you short stories
for the anthology I was writing instead.
I had never written anything so personal.
That's why he was a first person character.
I didn't want to begin Holden's story because I was scared
I wouldn't live long enough to finish it.
- Hey, Jerry, how's your girlfriend?
- I wish they'd all just forget about it.
- Bye, lover boy.
- Come on, Jer.
You're the first guy to ever get dumped
on the front page of every newspaper in the country.
It's pretty nuts.
Chaplain's old enough to be her father.
- Well, what can I say?
Everyone loves that little tramp.
- And a scandal that has rocked the nation.
The biggest movie star in the world, Charlie Chaplain
has married the 18 year old daughter
of famed playwright Eugene O'Neill,
who has declared that she has finally met her true love.
- It's just more words.
- "Holden Caulfield," she said.
"It's marvelous to see you.
"It's been ages."
She had one of those very loud embarrassing voices
when you met her somewhere.
She got away with it because she was so damn good looking
that it always gave me a pain in the ass.
"It's swell to see ya," I said.
I meant it too.
"How are ya anyway?"
"Grand," she said.
If there's one word I hate it's grand.
It's so phony.
- This is a momentous hour
in world history, D-Day.
The men of General Dwight D. Eisenhower
are fighting their way up the beaches in fire and blood
into the fortress of Nazi Europe.
Casualties in this mammoth operation
may reach a dreadful toll.
- I had stormed Normandy
with six chapters in my bag.
And I'd be lying if I didn't tell ya
Holden got me through some rough spells.
He gave me something to focus on
when things weren't going so hot.
That's one of the things I loved most about writing.
Your mind keeps on working on your stories
whether you've got a pen or a gun in your hand.
It just never stops creating.
- You okay?
- You've got to help me, just help me.
- Hey, hey.
- I did everything I could to keep on writing.
I really did.
No pen, no typewriter.
To hell with them.
I kept on telling Holden's story,
even if it was only to myself.
- If I get pneumonia then I'll probably die.
There'll be millions of jerks at my funeral.
- Jerry, Jerry.
You're going to be all right, okay?
All right?
You've just got to warm up a bit, okay?
Come on, here we go.
All right.
Hey, hey, you just gotta warm up, okay?
I brought the socks your mom sent you?
She's a smart lady, Jer.
All right, take 'em.
Keep you warm, all right, okay?
I'm not going anywhere.
- Jerry?
Jerry, can you hear me?
Jerry, I want you to look at me.
Could you look at me, Jerry?
Jerry, squeeze my hand if you can hear me.
- I'm truly sorry you wasted all that time on me.
But you gotta believe me when I tell you,
I have nothing left to say.
About Holden Caulfield or anything else for that matter.
Sincerely yours, Jerry Salinger.
- He's here.
- Is he still crazy?
- Ssh.
- Welcome home, sonny.
All the way home from Germany.
- Hi Mom.
Doris.
- Jerry.
- Uh, this is my wife, Sylvia.
This is my mom, Miriam.
That's my sister, Doris.
And that's my father, Sol.
- Hello.
Sonny, you were interrogating Nazis after the war?
- Yeah, we were trying to find out
where the Nazis were hiding.
- That sounds exciting.
- So Sylvia, what do you do?
- She's a rodeo clown.
It's a joke.
- I'm a thermologist by trade, before the war.
- When did you two get married?
- About six months ago.
- Oh, that's when you stopped responding to our letters.
- Well I haven't written a word in over a year.
- Well, I hope you're going to write stories again.
- Maybe after Whit publishes the Young Folks anthology.
It's the only reason why I came home.
And to see all of you.
Most of these I wrote before I went to Europe,
and a few I wrote during the war.
- And what about the Caulfield novel?
Where are you with that?
- About halfway.
- When do you think you're going to finish?
- Just, I can't work on it anymore.
- Why not?
- It brings back too many memories.
I want to forget it all.
- Well, have you written anything since you got back?
- I tried.
I just can't do it.
- Well, we'll publish your anthology
and I'll bet before long you'll be back at that typewriter.
- Hope so.
I'm not getting enough sleep so it's hard to concentrate.
And sometimes I wake up and I'm screaming.
- These are all very common post-war symptoms, Jerry, okay?
And have you been painting at all?
- No, no, 'cause I'm not a painter, I'm a writer.
- Yes, yes of course, writer.
- And no.
With the nightmares I just,
sometimes I have flashbacks of the camps during the day too.
It's almost like I'm there.
I can smell.
Is there anything I can do for that?
- No, these are all very common occurrences
from soldiers returning from combat.
It's just a phase, okay?
- Hey.
- Hello.
So you've been drinking.
- No, no I haven't touched a drop in years.
- Oh, that's right.
You joined a temperance union.
- Joined?
You mean started it.
I also joined the divorce union.
Well kind of more annulled
if you want to get technical about it.
- What happened?
- Something that never should have.
I think she might be a Nazi.
- Are you serious?
- I don't know, maybe.
- Well now see, that is something you should write about.
Have you started up again?
- No.
Um, you know, I think once the anthology's published
that'll hopefully get me going again.
What?
- The anthology's just turned out to be
a little more complicated than I thought.
- How?
- Well you know, we don't publish on our own.
We don't have the money for it.
So we have this relationship with Lippincott
to finance a long form.
And they've rejected the book.
They don't want to publish it.
- So you're not going to publish the Young Folks anthology?
- Look, if it was up to me, Jerry.
It's them.
I nearly ended the relationship with them.
- You nearly ended the relationship?
How nearly brave of you that must have been.
- Come on, come on.
- No, no, no, that means a lot to me.
I mean, you know that was the only reason
I came back from Germany.
You knew how much it meant to me, how much I needed that.
- At least it brought you home.
- I didn't want to come home.
- Jerry, I'm sorry, there's nothing I can do, all right?
I went to war with these guys over this.
- War?
War?
War, you went to war with these guys?
- Oh, I'm sorry, no.
That was a bad choice of words.
- You went to war?
- I didn't mean...
- I landed on D-Day.
- I understand...
- No, no, no, no, no.
You have no idea.
I'm only alive because we missed our landing by 1,000 yards.
But I saw them all get killed.
I saw every single one of them get killed.
I should be dead too, I shouldn't be here.
- Jerry, I'm sorry.
I fought for you. - No, no, no, no, no.
- I wanted this to happen.
- Don't sit there and tell me how you fought for this.
You are a liar, you're a goddam liar.
And I never want to see you again.
- Jerry.
- Hey mister.
I have a question for you.
Where do you think the ducks go in the winter
when the pond freezes over?
- I'm sorry, pal, I ain't got no idea.
Hey, you want a smoke?
- Yeah, thank you.
Hey, you wanna, you want a nip?
- Ooh, don't mind if I do.
- Have you got a light?
- I think I do.
Hey, hey, I'm a veteran.
I'm a veteran, goddam it, stop.
- All right, got it.
- What are you all doing?
I keep having nightmares about the war almost every night.
Sometimes I wake up screaming.
- Do you also see it during the day?
- How'd you know?
- Before I studied the teachings of Ramakrishna
I was a freedom fighter in India against the British.
It was the violence I witnessed
that led me on the same path that has led you to me.
- Do you think the nightmares will ever go away?
- Oh yes.
But first you must heal from the violence
that has been inflicted upon your soul.
- How?
- Right.
Our religion consists of meditation
on the spirit of full consciousness.
Come.
Remove your shoes.
This is how we will begin to heal the pain.
Those are very handsome shoes.
- Thank you.
- Come, sit.
Very good.
Now close your eyes.
It's all right.
I won't hurt you.
Ultimate reality is an all-pervading
uncreated self-luminous eternal spirit.
It's the consciousness that animates all conscious beings.
- I, well I try to write.
Every day I sit at the typewriter but I can't start.
- What do you think about when you stare at the blank page?
- That it won't be good.
That I've lost my talent.
- So what if you have?
- Then I shouldn't write.
- You write to show off your talent
or to express what's in your heart?
- I finally started yesterday.
- Good.
- No, it wasn't good.
I mean, the writing was terrible
and I only managed one page.
- Then what happened?
Did you enjoy it?
- Writing?
- No, ripping up the page.
- Yeah.
I ripped up five pages yesterday.
- Sounds like fun.
- Seymour Glass.
"Are you going in the water, Seymour Glass?" she said.
He suddenly got to his feet.
He looked at the ocean.
"I'll tell you what we'll do.
"We'll see if we can catch a bananafish.
"This is a perfect day for bananafish."
- Well, I love what you've done with the place.
You're writing again.
- Mm-hm.
- The Caulfield novel?
- No, no.
I tried but...
- Thank you.
- It's just some short stories I've been working on.
- Mm.
- They're not very good,
but at least I'm getting pages clone.
- Well, that's why I'm here.
You remember that story
that the New Yorker was going to publish?
- Slight Rebellion Off Madison, my first Caulfield story.
- Well, they've been reviewing
all their past submissions from before the war
and they are considering publishing it.
- Really?
- Yes, really.
I don't know if you remember,
but they had specific notes you didn't want to take.
And if you want them to publish it
you're going to have to make their changes.
Oh come on, at least hear them out.
Publishing is everything.
- Well the New Yorker holds a special place
in American literature.
And it's important to us that our stories
have a uniform vision.
We want the reader to be able to read a story
and know that it could only run in the New Yorker.
- That's exactly what I don't want.
- You don't want to be published in the New Yorker?
- No, no, I love the New Yorker.
I just don't want to write stories like everyone else.
You know, the war hero doesn't always get a parade.
Sometimes he blows his head off.
I want to create a new form of writing,
a modern form about modern society
in which is the pain of our existence
is laid out truthfully for everyone to see.
- I'll make a deal with you.
If you try the notes and don't feel they make
your story better, then I'll submit your original version.
- I don't want Holden and Sally to end up together.
That's not what happens in real life,
at least not in my life.
- Well that's fine.
It's just a thought we had.
- I thought it was a big sticking point for you.
- Not if you feel it destroys the integrity of the piece.
Look, Jerry, I'm not trying to take your story over
or write it for you.
You have a wonderful voice but you over-explain.
Trust that the reader's going to understand you.
- What do you mean I over-explain?
That's better.
Your notes worked.
Thanks.
- You're welcome.
I'll submit it to Harold Ross and the team.
It should take a few weeks to get an answer.
- I wanted to give you another story I wrote.
I thought you could help me make it better.
- Well shouldn't bananafish be two words?
- No, it has to be one.
- Why?
- Because two words would make too much sense.
- Dear Jerry.
I've sent you several letters but you never respond.
I hope you believe me when I tell you
there was nothing I could do.
I begged them to publish it, I really did.
And now I'm begging for your forgiveness.
Because I truly...
- I've read several of your stories
and they're very impressive for someone your age.
- My writing changed a lot after the war.
- The war changed a lot of writers.
- The ones that survived.
- Jerry, I brought you here today
because I wanted to tell you personally
that the New Yorker would like to publish you.
- Which story?
- All of them.
- All of them?
- I would like to offer you a first rejection contract.
We'll pay you a handsome yearly salary.
And in return we get to read all of your stories first.
The ones we don't publish,
you're free to sell to other magazines.
- It's the most prestigious contract in American publishing.
- Congratulations, Jerry, you did it.
♪ Jing jing a ling jing a ling jing a ling
♪ I love to hear our laughter mingle
♪ Hah hah
♪ Ho ho
♪ Gliding through the snow
- May I present Jerry Salinger.
Peggy Sisken.
- Very nice to meet you.
- The New Yorker's incipient great man of American letter.
- Jerry, if I may.
I am also a writer.
- Fantastic.
- I thought Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut was marvelous.
I'm simply dying for your next story.
- When Seymour Glass shot himself,
you weren't just talking about the war.
You were talking about the bourgeois
capitalist infrastructure of a modern plutocracy.
- Or maybe it was the war.
But it's really up to the reader.
- Jerry is in the very beginnings of his first novel.
- And Bill says you may be writing a novel.
- When are you going to write a novel?
- Well, you know, there's something I'm working on.
Hopefully it won't be too long.
- Let's get a picture.
- Oh, thank you so much.
- Shall we have a picture?
Here we are.
♪ Jing a ling jing a ling
♪ Jing a ling jing a ling jing a ling
- There's one thing that's been weighing on me.
A novel I'm trying, wanting to finish but can't.
I'm scared if I work on it the nightmares will come back.
- Is it about the war?
- No, it's about a character I wrote about during the war.
He was with me everywhere I went.
- Every time you attempt to work on it
you feel the war again.
- You know, you never really get the smell
of burning flesh out of your nostrils.
- Perhaps finishing this book is the way for you to move on.
- Right.
There's just so many distractions everywhere.
- Then you must remove distractions.
- Well, this is it.
It gets a little drafty but the price is right.
What are you going to do up here?
- Oh, just a little writing.
- I'll just tell you about this madman stuff
that happened to me around last Christmas.
Just before I got pretty run down.
Finally what I decided I'd do, I decided I'd go away.
I decided I'd never go home again.
I'd never go away to another school again.
That way I wouldn't have to have
any goddam stupid unless conversations with anybody.
I keep picturing all these little kids
playing some game in this big field of rye and all.
Thousands of little kids, and nobody's around.
Nobody big I mean, except me.
And I'm standing on the edge of some crazy cliff.
What I have to do, I have to catch everybody
if they start to go over the cliff.
I mean if they're running and they don't look
where they're going, I have to come out
from somewhere and catch them.
And that's all I'd do all day.
I'd just be the catcher in the rye and all.
I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing
I'd really like to be.
- Jerry.
- Hi,
- Thanks so much for stopping by.
- Oh, thank you.
- It's great to meet you.
- Mr. Giroux, it's a pleasure.
- Robert.
Please, call me Robert.
- Robert. - Have a seat.
- Thank you.
- Such an honor to have you here.
- No, I'm sorry for stopping by unannounced.
I just wanted to speak to you personally.
- No apologies necessary.
- I don't know if you remember, but a year ago
you sent me the kindest letter about my writing
asking if you could publish a book of my short stories.
- Of course, I love those stories.
- Thank you.
I just completed my first novel
and if you like, I'd like you to publish it.
- Ah, I am honored you'd think of me.
When can I read it?
- Hm.
You know, the pages of this book were with me
when I stormed the beaches of Normandy.
I wrote them in Hitler's death camps and in the hospital
where I could barely remember my own name.
I don't think I'd be alive if it wasn't for this book.
- I'm really flattered, Jerry.
Is it a war story?
- No.
It's about a troubled kid during the Christmas holidays.
- Well I know you wanted us to give you
some helpful notes on the novel.
But the truth is, we both think it has a lot of problems.
- I just don't buy Holden.
- That's the whole book.
- Well he seems phony, as he would like to say.
He's so negative all the time.
It just doesn't feel real.
- And your style is too writer-conscious.
I feel you're trying to be clever on almost every page.
- Did you at least think it was funny?
- Um.
- Yes, but in a way where I feel
the writer's being too witty.
- You're making a real name for yourself
and I would hate for this book
to throw all that goodwill away.
The best note I can give ya
is to just put it in a drawer for a year or two.
- It's that bad?
- I'm afraid it is.
- I loved it, Jerry, I really did.
- Thank God.
- But these things are never easy.
- What do you mean?
- My boss didn't get it.
But I fought for it and he said he'd be willing to publish
if you did a major rewrite.
- What does he want rewritten?
- He doesn't understand Holden, what makes him tick.
And I gotta admit, I found him confusing at times.
He hates everything.
And he's always so sarcastic.
Is Holden supposed to be crazy?
Are you okay?
Jerry?
- No, I've thought about it and I can't do a rewrite.
I won't do it, I'm not going to change a word.
Holden would never approve.
- You might not have to.
- What do you mean?
- Look, I didn't tell you I was going to do this.
But I sent it to one person, just to test the waters.
- Who?
- John Woodburn at Little, Brown.
- Okay, well how was the water?
- Hot, very hot.
- He liked it?
- No, he loved it.
He thinks it's an American masterpiece.
- He said masterpiece?
- That's what he said.
- Yeah.
And wait, you told him I wouldn't make any changes?
- Yes, I told him that that could be a problem,
and he still wants to meet with you
to discuss marketing and distribution.
- Hold on, marketing?
- We also love this one for the cover,
Holden in his red hunting hat.
- I hate it.
- So what's wrong with this one?
- The reader needs to imagine for themselves
what they want Holden to look like.
- What if we just use it for the galleys?
I think it would really...
- Mm-mm, no.
I don't want any galleys sent out.
- Advanced copies are crucial for publicity purposes.
- I don't want any publicity.
- You don't want any publicity?
- No.
I don't care if it's successful.
I just want it to be good.
The less attention the book gets,
the more the story will affect people.
- It won't affect anyone if they don't read it.
- Well I'm not doing press.
This isn't about me or publicity or reviews.
This is about Holden.
- Jerry, do you want us to publish this book
or merely to print it?
Because if you just want a printer,
then I suggest you type up a few hundred copies
and send them out yourself.
- Fine, you can send out galleys for advance reviews.
- Thank you, Jerry.
That's very generous of you.
- But I don't want to read a single review.
So don't send them to me, okay?
- Receiving rapturous reviews,
the debut novel of J.D. Salinger is being heralded
as the breakout book of the year.
♪ If a body meet a body
♪ Coming through the rye
♪ If a body kiss a body
♪ Need a body cry
♪ Every lassie has a laddie
♪ None they say have I
♪ And all the lads they smile at me
♪ When coming through the rye
♪ And all the lads they smile at me
♪ When coming through the rye
- And do you feel peace?
- Excuse me, Mr. Salinger.
Excuse me.
Um, I just wanted to talk to you.
I feel like I'm Holden Caulfield.
And I jump, I need to talk to you
about the book, about Holden.
- Everything I have to say I wrote in the book.
- How do you know so much about me?
- I don't.
It's just a work of fiction.
I'm just a fiction writer.
Thank you for saying hello.
- But I'm Holden.
I'm Holden Caulfield.
You're phony, like everyone else.
- Sorry, I didn't want to wake you.
- No, no, no, you didn't.
I was always worried you wouldn't be able to pay your rent.
Now I gotta worry about deranged fans attacking you.
You should take your photo off all those book covers.
- I never knew you worried at all.
- Since the day you were born.
When I was a boy I wanted to be a pianist.
I loved playing so much.
But my father was a rabbi so he just couldn't understand
how I would be able to support myself,
and he forced me to stop playing.
I was upset.
But I knew he loved me.
He just wanted me to be okay.
- I never even heard you play.
- No, but I was good.
So, you're Holden Caulfield, right?
- Yeah.
- Your mother was right.
You are very talented.
- Thank you.
- Now you just got to write another one even better.
No pressure.
Good night, sonny.
- I hear people talking about Catcher everywhere I go.
Everyone just loves it.
- I'm so excited to read your next book.
- Is your steak okay?
- Yeah, I'm just not very hungry.
- Could we get you something else maybe?
- No, excuse me.
- You okay?
- Yeah, I'm fine.
- You know, there's a dinner party going on in there.
- Yeah, I'm just a little uncomfortable right now.
- It's just a book.
I didn't even like it that much,
if you want to know the truth.
- What didn't you like about it?
- It was just like all those other phony books.
A lot of whining and the ending was a lousy bore.
You shouldn't take yourself so seriously, you know.
It's not like you're the first guy to write a hit book.
- Wait, wait.
Can I get your phone number?
- Got a pen?
- And I got some paper too.
What's your name?
- Claire.
You're the first person that's ever said they hated it.
- To your face.
- Thank you.
- You have captured the consciousness of the nation.
You've tapped into the way many feel,
and have given a voice to their pain.
- Well I can't go home anymore.
I wrote the book to get over the war
and now I feel like I'm going crazy all over again.
- Have you not yet learned how to remove distraction?
- New Hampshire's really beautiful this time of year.
It's 90 acres, mostly woods.
The house is modest but very nice.
There's also a small bunker
that can be converted to a guest house.
- Or an office.
- Whatever you want.
I think you'll be really happy here.
- Well I hope so.
- An artist's only concern
is to shoot for some kind of perfection.
And on his own terms, not anyone else's.
- Excuse, Mr. Salinger.
Since you write about teenagers
I thought you might be interested in running a youth group.
I think the kids would love it.
- I would too.
- Great.
They're right over here.
- Yet a real artist,
I've noticed, will survive anything.
- Jerry?
You invite me all the way out here
and then walk away as soon as you see me?
- No, I'm sorry.
I thought you were one of those crazed Caulfield fans.
- You should be so lucky.
- You look beautiful.
What do you think?
- It's just as you said in your letters.
It's like the city without the city.
- Do you hate it?
- I grew up in foster homes, Jerry.
As long as you're here it's perfect.
- Her skin was lovely
and her features were delicate.
No one could have missed saying
that she was a first class beauty.
He's overjoyed with his new spiritual life.
And he goes on saying his prayer and telling everyone
he happens to meet how to say it too.
- Hey, Mr. Salinger.
I know you're very private, but I was wondering
if I could interview you for my school newspaper.
They want me to write an article about someone I admire.
And you'd be perfect.
- Well I stopped doing interviews a while ago.
But for a school paper I can certainly make an exception.
- Really?
- Of course.
- The kids at school are going to love it.
Thank you, thank you.
Is Catcher in the Rye autobiographical?
- Sort of.
My boyhood was very much the same
as that of the boy in the book.
You know, I had problems in school just like he did.
To be honest, it was a great relief telling people about it.
- And why do most of your stories center on young people?
- Because they're innocent
and they haven't been destroyed by the world yet.
I guess part of me wishes I could still be that innocent.
But I've seen the things I've seen
and I'll never have that innocence again.
- That girl who interviewed you
the other day was very pretty.
- So?
- So you seem to like pretty young girls.
- Yes, that would put me
in that special classification known as a man.
- Well I hope you still love me
when I'm not a pretty young girl.
- Of course I will.
No. - What?
- That interview, the interview with the girl.
It was printed in the local paper, not the school paper.
- So?
- So she lied to me.
She said it was for the school paper.
She lied.
- It's okay, Jerry.
It's going to be okay.
- No, I trusted her. - Jerry, it's okay.
- I trusted her.
She betrayed me. - It's okay.
- How dare those goddam children betray me now.
- When people become the distraction
then I suppose you remove the people.
- There hasn't be a single mention of me
or Story Magazine in any of the press, not a single mention.
- That's because you have no
official involvement in the book.
- But I published his first story.
I'm the one who convinced him
that Holden Caulfield should be a novel.
- Well, you would have been the publisher
of the hottest novel of the year
if you'd published his anthology like you promised him.
- I haven't slept for six months.
And I miss him.
- Well I'm sorry about that.
- Lippincott says that they'll publish
an anthology now, anything he wants.
- Everyone wants an anthology.
But we're going with Little, Brown out of loyalty,
although I hate the title.
Nine Stories, it's such a bore.
- Do you think Jerry would write a piece for Story?
It doesn't have to be a new piece.
It could be an old story, it's fine.
We're just really struggling.
- I already asked him.
He said no.
- How can he still be angry with me?
He's a huge success now.
- It hasn't been easy on him.
The war made him a better writer
but it really messed him up.
- It seems to me indisputably true
that artists and poets who have a reputation
for producing a great or fine art
have something garishly wrong with them as persons,
a spectacular flaw in character
or an extreme self-centeredness.
And the public's thirst for their next supposed masterpiece
only makes them want to hide from distractions even more.
- You've been in that studio for over a week, Jerry.
All week writing about the Glass family.
We're alone here, Jerry.
You can't just leave us along like this.
We're your family too.
I have no friends here, I have no one to talk to.
I am all alone.
I'm alone.
- He's absolutely unfit for marriage
or anything halfway normal.
It's a sad fact that the end of one story
always seems to grow into the start of a new one.
And the tragedy is there's simply
nothing he can do about it.
- Please, you know you're not supposed to bother me in here.
- I know.
But you have a phone call and he says it's important.
- Why?
Who is it?
- Whit Burnett.
- No, no, I don't want to talk to him.
- You'd think with all that meditation
you'd have learned to forgive by now.
- Hello.
- Jerry, hi.
It's been a long time.
- Yes it has.
- I never got a chance to tell you
but I just loved Catcher in the Rye.
- Thank you.
It was your idea to write it.
- Well, it's one thing to have an idea.
It's another thing to execute it,
and you did so brilliantly.
- Thank you.
- How's life in the country?
I understand...
- It's fine, Whit.
What can I do for you?
- Are you still angry about what happened?
- Is that why you called?
- No, no, I called because, look, Story Magazine
is going to do an anthology of short stories.
And since you're our most famous alumni
I just thought it would be fitting
if you did the introduction for us.
Hello.
- Okay.
- Okay, what?
- Okay, I'll do it.
- Really?
- Yeah, you sound surprised.
- No, no, I'm just thrilled.
I, I, thank you.
- No, thank you for buying my first story.
- Well it was the best $25 I ever spent.
- When I was 20 I was a student for a time
in Whit Burnett's short story course up at Columbia.
I often have my doubts whether any good
and conscientious writing course conductor
can humanly do more.
He was there unmistakably in the service of the story.
- It isn't too quiet for you out here?
- No, it's perfect.
- But don't you miss the action in the city?
- It's just a distraction.
It's all a distraction.
It's important I remove anything
that can interfere with my writing.
All I want now is to write.
- Yeah, but don't you have less to write about?
You're so isolated.
I mean, look, I liked Franny and Zooey.
It's just it felt a little bit more
like reading a religious textbook than a story.
- You always told me to dig deeper, correct?
- Yes.
- I couldn't have written Catcher without the war.
But now I'm seeking a higher calling
than a boy in his hunting hat.
- Wait a minute.
Holden changed the country.
There's now young people all over the world
who feel they finally have a voice they never had before.
- Yes, and they're not afraid to come here and tell me.
Sometimes I wish I never wrote it.
I do, it's made me a prisoner here.
I'm shackled by my own creation.
- Oh come on, does it have to be like that?
- Yes.
If I want to keep writing, it does.
And that's the only time I feel any sense of peace.
It's nice to see you again but I'm curious
why you wanted to come all the way up here to talk to me.
- It's about the introduction you wrote.
Look, I loved it, it's beautiful.
I was very flattered.
- Well I'm glad you enjoyed it.
- But unfortunately I can't use it.
- You can't use it?
- No, because it's not about Story Magazine
or the other writers.
It's about me and it's just inappropriate
to use as an introduction for an anthology.
Why are you laughing?
- Ever since we've met all you've clone is reject my writing.
I guess I was foolish to think that would end now.
- Well, I never said life as a writer was going to be easy.
- As always, you were right.
Bye, Whit.
- Good bye.
- As always there are multiple offers
for the film rights to Catcher.
Elia Kazan, Billy Wilder, they both keep calling.
- Tell them no and to stop calling.
It'd never work as a movie.
- Why not?
- 'Cause I'm the only one that can play Holden.
I'm too old.
- Little, Brown called about your next book.
They asked if you were still writing about the Glass family.
They'll take anything, literally anything.
- No, there's something I want to talk to you about.
It's actually the reason why I came back to the city.
- What is it?
- I don't want to publish anymore.
- But people really love to read your stories.
You'll have so many disappointed fans.
- My writing's, it's become my religion.
Publishing, it gets in the way of the meditation.
It corrupts it.
I don't know how to be a husband,
or a father, or even a friend.
All I know is how to be a writer.
If I can truly do this, if I can dedicate
my life to writing and get nothing in return,
then I think I can find some happiness.
- Then don't publish anymore.
I love you and I want you to be happy.
And it's like I always said, publishing isn't everything.
- Dear Whit.
So to answer the question you asked me all those years ago.
Yes, I am willing to write for the rest of my life
and get nothing in return.
Sincerely yours, J.D. Salinger.
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