Nine Stories (AKA For Esme--with Love and Squalor) (1953)

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by J.D. Salinger



What is the opposite of prolific?



Answer: J.D. Salinger.


J.D.Salinger


The reclusive author had a rather meager output compared with other writers of his stature, but the extraordinary quality of his work has assured his exalted place in American letters. 



Though I was impressed by "Catcher in the Rye," I found it to be a bit overrated. 



(I intend to reread it someday to see if I'm really willing to stand by that statement.)

 


For me, it is the short fiction in this volume that truly reveals his talent.

 


Salinger often uses the uncomprehending bewilderment of children as a vehicle for observing the disappointments of adults.

 


Two of my favorites are "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" (a young man, traumatized by WWII and deeply disappointed by the human race, makes a startling choice) and "The Laughing Man" (though typically not very concerned with plot in his stories, Salinger here concocts a crackling adventure tale worthy of the best pulp yarns that doubles as a vehicle for revealing the deep romantic disappointment of an imaginative young man). 



This is must reading.

 


"9 Stories" (Azerbaijani)

"Nine Tales" (Portuguese)




"Dedicated to Esme and Other Short Stories" (Danish)

"Nine Stories" (Japanese)



"Nine Stories" (Arabic)

"Nine Short Stories" (Norwegian)

"My Mouth Is Nice, My Eyes Are Green" (Bulgarian)

"Nine Stories" (Croatian)

"Nine Tales" (Italian)

"Nine Stories" (German)

"Nine Short Stories" (Slovak)

"The Nostalgia of the Forty-Eighth Street Painter" (Persian)

"New" (French)

"Nine Stories" (Galician)

"Young People" (Latvian)

"Nine Stories" (Finnish)

"Nine Stories" (Russian)

"Nine Stories" (Chinese)

"Nine Stories" (Hebrew)

"For Esme: Nine Stories" (Serbian)

"For Esme's Sake with Love and Misery" (Indonesian)

"Nine Short Stories" (Thai)

"Nine Stories" (Georgian)

"Nine Stories" (Dutch)

"Nine Stories' (Polish)

"Nine Stories" (Estonian)

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