J. D. Salinger was born on January 1, 1919, the second child and only son of a Jewish father, a prosperous importer of hams and cheeses and a Scotch-Irish mother. Very little is known about Salinger. His silence is persistent. When pressed for biographical information, he has been known to spread false rumors: he was a goalie for the Montreal hockey team; the Marx brothers were a constant presence in his childhood home.

In 1932, he attended McBurney School, a private preparatory school in Manhattan. During the admissions interview, Salinger admitted to an interest in dramatics. He flunked out at the end of the first year. "He wanted to do unconventional things," recalled a friend. "For hours, no one in the family knew where he was or what he was doing; he just showed up for meals. He was a nice boy, but he was the kind of kid who, if...