Nine stories – J.D. Salinger

Last Updated on: 26th septiembre 2026, 09:51 pm

In the first place, if I owned a magazine I would never publish a column full of contributors’ biographical notes. I seldom care to know a writer’s birthplace, his children’s names, his working schedule, the date of his arrest for smuggling guns (the gallant rogue!) during the Irish Rebellion. The writer who tells you these things is also very likely to have his picture taken wearing an open-collared shirt–and he’s sure to be looking three-quarter-profile and tragic. He can also be counted on to refer to his wife as a swell girl or a grand person. I’ve written biographical notes for a few magazines, and I doubt if I ever said anything honest in them. This time, though, I think I’m a little too far out of my Emily Bronte period to work myself into a Heathcliff. (All writers–no matter how many rebellions they actively support– go to their graves half-Oliver Twist and half-Mary, Mary, Quite contrary.) This time I’m going to make it short and go straight home. I’ve been writing seriously for over ten years. Being modest almost to a fault, I won’t say I’m a born writer, but I’m certainly a born professional. I don’t think I ever selected writing as a career. I just started to write when I was eighteen or so and never stopped. (Maybe that isn’t quite true. Maybe I did select writing as a profession. I don’t really remember—I got into it so quickly—and finally.) I was with the fourth Division during the war. I almost always write about very young people.

SHOW not TELL…

Libro casi imposible de conseguir en español en México. Tal vez la mejor idea sea conseguirlo en inglés en Amazon. Como sea, el libro es una buena lectura. Más que buena. Siguen los personajes infantiles en los cuentos. Esa sensación de algo inacabado. Lo inasible. La sensación de que algo al final es más grande que nosotros, y que solamente es posible rozarlo.

La verdad es que nada de lo que escriba le hará justicia a Salinger. Además, hay mucho ya escrito en Internet sobre los cuentos. Dejo a continuación los relatos:

• A perfect day for Bananafish.
• Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut. (Nota al pie acá).
• Just before the War with the Eskimos.
• The laughing man.
• For Esmé, with Love and Squalor.

Son los que pude encontrar antes de caer dormido. Excelente lectura, sin duda.

Lee también: Una lectura de Franny, de J. D. Salinger