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He had a reputation as a literary recluse, but a trove of previously unseen letters written by J.D. Salinger to a British friend reveals a sociable man who took bus trips to Niagara Falls, ate fast-food hamburgers, enjoyed watching tennis and claimed always to be writing new work.
The 50 letters and four postcards have been donated to a British university, which made them public on Thursday on the first anniversary of the author's death at the age of 91. They show that the enigmatic writer of The Catcher in the Rye was an affectionate friend who enjoyed gardening, trips to the theater and church suppers - and thought one restaurant chain's burgers were better than the rest.
Chris Bigsby, professor of American studies at the letters' new home, the University of East Anglia, said they challenge Salinger's image as a near-hermit holed up in his New England home.
"These letters show a completely different man," Bigbsy said. "This is a man who goes on (bus) parties to Nantucket or Niagara or the Grand Canyon and enjoys chatting to people along the way.
"He goes to art galleries and theater and travels to London to see (Alan) Ayckbourn and (Anton) Chekhov plays. He was out and about."
The letters were written to Donald Hartog, a Londoner who met Salinger in 1938 when both were teenagers in Vienna, sent by their families to learn German. They corresponded after returning home - Salinger to try his hand as a writer, Hartog eventually going into the food import-export business.
The pair wrote to one another during World War II - in which Salinger fought as a soldier in the US Army - but after a few years the friendship lapsed. Hartog's daughter Frances said her father burned those early letters while clearing out the house prior to a move.
Hartog's literary judgment was wrong. Salinger became a celebrity when Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951. The story of the angry but articulate 16-year-old Holden Caulfield has sold more than 35 million copies and remains a classic portrait of youthful rebellion.
The novel's success drove the attention-shy Salinger even further from the limelight. For several decades he lived quietly in tiny Cornish, New Hampshire, whose inhabitants took pride in protecting his privacy and seeing off interlopers. He gave few interviews and published relatively little.
His last book, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour, came out in 1963. His last published work, the short story Hapworth 16, 1924, appeared in The New Yorker in 1965.
（中國(guó)日?qǐng)?bào)網(wǎng)英語(yǔ)點(diǎn)津 Helen 編輯）
About the broadcaster:
Lee Hannon is Chief Editor at China Daily with 15-years experience in print and broadcast journalism. Born in England, Lee has traveled extensively around the world as a journalist including four years as a senior editor in Los Angeles. He now lives in Beijing and is happy to move to China and join the China Daily team.
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