The phonies in Hollywood are making a movie about J.D. Salinger. Who’s playing him? Nicholas Hoult. What’s it called? “Rebel in the Rye.” Who’s directing? “Empire“‘s Danny Strong. Who’s writing the script? Also Danny Strong — based on a 2011 Salinger biography by Kenneth Slawenski. Why do we care? The celebrated author was born Jerome David…
I have traveled to Cornish, New Hampshire, with the intention of buying J.D. Salinger’s house. Last year, when the house went on the market, it was listed for $679,000, but now Jane Darrach, the real estate agent for the property, has told me the price has dropped to “585-ish.” It seems like a lot of…
Back in high school, I was friends with the Salinger boys, but I wasn’t really one of them. As I recall it now, there were three: John, Thom and Barnaby (I’ve changed two of their names and I’ve left one the same, for reasons you’ll probably figure out later). You could recognize the Salinger boys…
Is J.D. Salinger over-exposure possible? Based on the late author’s reclusive life and limited output you would think not, but this fall might convince you otherwise. On September 6 Shane Salerno’s much anticipated and highly secretive bio-pic, “Salinger,” will hit theaters. It will be accompanied by a book, also by Salerno along with David Shields,…
J.D. Salinger, the reclusive author of “The Catcher in the Rye” and “Franny and Zooey,” among other books, will be the subject of a new biography and film, according to the Associated Press. Publisher Simon & Schuster announced today that they had bought the rights to “The Private War of J.D. Salinger” by author David…
Recluse? What recluse? All we needed was the 1940 census to tell us where the uber-private J.D. Salinger lived that year. Trouble is, we didn’t have access to the 1940 census until yesterday. On April 2, the government opened up the personal details of 132 million people, after keeping them confidential for 72 years. Gothamist…
The scholarship that lets you sleep in J.D. Salinger’s old dorm room. Anselm Keifer and his confrontation with German history. Singer-songwriter Clare Burson reflects on the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire. The legacy of Bagitto, the Jewish dialect of Livorno. Darren Aronofsky has said that he will not be directing ‘The Wolverine.’ The best Jewish rappers…
The finalists for the 2011 Sami Rohr Prize for Jewish Literature have been announced. Philadelphia’s Rosenbach Museum and Library has become home to Maurice Sendak’s only mural. Jonah Lehrer retrieves Thorstein Veblen’s forgotten essay on why Jews become intellectuals. An Iranian grandmaster claims to have beaten an Israeli chess record after playing 614 people simultaneously…
