J. D. Salinger: The Last Interview And Other Conversations

From the moment J. D. Salinger published The Catcher in the Rye in 1951, he was stalked by besotted fans, would-be biographers, and pushy journalists. In this collection of rare and revealing encounters with the elusive literary giant, Salinger discusses—sometimes willingly, sometimes grudgingly—what that onslaught was like, the autobiographical origins of his art, and his advice to writers. Including his final, surprising interview, and with an insightful introduction by New York Times journalist David Streitfeld, these enlightening, provocative, and even amusing conversations reveal a writer fiercely resistant to the spotlight but powerless to escape its glare.

J.D. Salinger (b. 1919, New York, NY; d. 2010, Cornish, NH) was one of the most influential writers of the twentieth century. His landmark novel The Catcher in the Rye is widely established as a defining novel of post-World War II America. He is also the author of the collections Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey, and Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction.  Though he continued to write up until his death in 2010, Salinger was fiercely reclusive and stopped publishing his work in 1965.

Editor David Streitfeld is a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist who writes for The New York Times. He was the editor of Gabriel Gárcia Márquez: The Last Interview and Philip K. Dick: The Last Interview.