Description:

J.D. Salinger TLS Re: That Other "Catcher": Red Sox's Carlton Fisk!

A 1p typed letter signed by American writer J.D. Salinger (1919-2010) as "Jerry Salinger" at lower right, above his additional typed signature as "J.D. Salinger." November 16, 1989. Cornish, New Hampshire. Typed on white paper showing expected wear including flattened folds, else near fine. 8.5" x 11." Accompanied by the original transmittal envelope bearing Salinger's return address label as "Lang Road / R.R. 3, Box 176 / Cornish, NH 03745." The word "Dodie" has been inscribed on the envelope below the address label, presumably by the letter recipient (was "Dodie" an old wartime nickname of Salinger's?) Bearing philatelic markings and neatly letter-opened at top.

Salinger wrote this letter to his old war buddy Russell "Red" Reeder, Jr. (1902-1998), with whom he had served in the 12th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry during World War II. Salinger teases Reeder (whom he calls by his wartime sobriquet "Red Rider") by saying that being contacted by him is one of only two claims to celebrity that Salinger possesses, the other one being his chance encounter with Red Sox catcher Carlton Fisk in the late 1960s before the professional baseball player became famous.

Salinger explains that Carlton Fisk (born 1947), then a young man from nearby Charlestown, New Hampshire, had been one of a work crew "who poured the concrete foundation for my new house" and then "went on to catch beautifully and almost without end for the Red Sox: one Carlton Fisk." Fisk first served as a baseball catcher with the Boston Red Sox in 1969, returning to play with the team from 1971-1980. Fisk had famously hit the game-winning home run in the 12th inning of Game 6 of the 1975 World Series between the Boston Red Sox and the Cincinnati Reds.

Salinger's discussion of the real-life catcher Carlton Fisk presents an irresistible contrast with the symbolic catcher in Salinger's famous 1951 work "The Catcher in the Rye." In the novel, Salinger's protagonist Holden Caulfield explains to his sister Phoebe that he would like to act as a "catcher in the rye," a type of guardian who prevents children from plunging off the cliff's edge into adulthood. The baseball theme is also recalled in the novel through the character of Holden's late brother Allie, who scrawled poetry on his baseball glove. One school of modern literary criticism argues that "The Catcher in the Rye" is really a war novel under the guise of a coming-of-age novel, where a central theme is the protection of innocents and innocence. If this is true, then can the children whom the "catcher in the rye" saves not be interpreted as soldiers spared from death during wartime?

Reeder had commanded Salinger's outfit, the 12th Infantry Regiment, after April 1944. The two men had both stormed Utah Beach on D-Day. At the battle, Reeder suffered a severe shrapnel wound to his ankle that later required amputation. Salinger saw further action at the Battle of the Bulge, and he also served with a counter-intelligence unit tasked with interrogating prisoners of war. Reeder retired from the U.S. Army with the rank of Colonel in 1945. After the war, Salinger completed a six-month "denazification" tour of Germany, later resigning as a Staff Sergeant. The men's war experiences shaped both of their lives. In the letter, Salinger agrees with Reeder that military service impacted his life to a great extent. Salinger praises the content of a D-Day commemoration speech that Reeder had delivered at West Point, and of which Reeder's sister, Nardi Reeder Campion, had recently sent him a copy.

Salinger's claim to have met Carlton Fisk in the late 1960s can be fact-checked to a certain degree. Salinger moved out of his first residence at 342 Lang Road in Cornish, New Hampshire, after his 1967 divorce from his second wife Claire. He did have a new house constructed, located about 1 mile away at 301 Lang Road. Salinger's second house was described by a Canadian journalist as "a rambling, dark-wooden lodge, nearly a Swiss chalet," summitting "a quiet, unpaved country lane…[at the top] of a long, spiral driveway leading uphill." (Michael Clarkson, "J.D. Salinger: The Catcher in the Rye Grows Old In Solitude," Entertainment section, "Calgary Herald," November 17, 1979.) Fisk's hometown of Charlestown, New Hampshire was located only 19 miles away from Salinger's Cornish, and he had several brothers who could have been part of that concrete-pouring work crew... Salinger lived in Cornish from 1953 until his death in 2010.

J.D. Salinger reached cult status after the publication of "The Catcher in the Rye," which captured the jaded zeitgeist of a postwar adolescent generation. Salinger profiled members of the zany Glass Family in a string of short stories and novels including "Franny and Zooey" (1961).

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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