In search of an echo: the sophistry of J.D. Salinger.

Abstract

Though the fiction of J. D. Salinger certainly cannot claim to suffer from a deficiency of constructive criticism, it would seem that the critical industry, as George Steiner refers to it, which so rapidly canopied his work during the decade of the Nineteen sixties, failed to perceive a rather basic philosophies weakness of his literature. It is my hope that the following consideration of Salinger's fiction will, when measured against a recognized world-view of human nature, provide a much needed answer to the ultimate tenability of the author!s entire canon.