Stephen Shepherd. Photo by Stephen Shepherd.
Written by Michelle Willens
Longtime Upper West Sider Stephen B. Shepherd has had a distinguished career in journalism. He was the editor of Business Week for 20 years, served as dean of the State University of New York Graduate School of Journalism, and is the author of several books. He hopes his new work will interest readers young and old.
Yes, he’s betting that enough people still care about a rebellious teenager named Holden Caulfield. More specifically, the complex and controversial author J. D. Salinger.
“I think it’s mainly because the book is on every high school and college list,” Shepherd says. “And Holden talks about obedience and materialism, which clearly still resonates today. Also, Salinger’s use of dialogue was extraordinary, even though he wasn’t very good at storytelling. , the ability to bring that to life through the voice of the character was unparalleled.”
Shepard’s book, which has just been published, is called “Salinger’s Soul: His Personal and Religious Adventures.” It divides the late author’s life into important chapters.
His military service in World War II affected him more than he could have imagined. He landed in Normandy and later took part in the liberation of concentration camps. “They called it ‘shell shock’ at the time, but Salinger obviously lived with PTSD for the rest of his life,” Shepherd says. “Two-thirds of his troops were killed or wounded. That’s why he wrote so many wounded letters. He was depressed almost all his life.”
Of course, Salinger had a writing career that began with short stories for prestigious magazines including The New Yorker. (Frustrated writers, please know that Salinger never graduated from college and has received as many literary rejections as acceptances.)
And what surprised Shepard most was his religious beliefs. Despite being bar mitzvah, having a grandfather who was a rabbi, and having witnessed the victims of the Holocaust, Salinger eventually adopted a mystical Hindu religion called Vedanta.
And yes, there were women too. Salinger was fascinated and attracted to many people who were just on this side of legal age. “If you think it’s wrong for a 53-year-old to sleep with a 19-year-old, you probably won’t sympathize,” Shepherd says. “Interestingly, Salinger never included sex in his books.” His daughter Peggy wrote a damning memoir about her father. “I understand that she was angry, but the world doesn’t need to know that,” Shepard said.
Meanwhile, Matt Salinger continues to live up to his father’s unpublished words. “The book was sent to me, but he wouldn’t talk to me,” Shepard says. He wants to protect his father’s privacy. ” By the way, these unpublished words will eventually be released to the public. (Many of Salinger’s letters are in the Morgan Library in New York City.)
Stephen Shepherd and Lynn Povich.
Salinger himself attended PS 166 and McBurney School on the Upper West Side, but his parents lived primarily on Park Avenue. Shepard, his latest biographer, and his wife, former magazine editor Lynn Povich, have lived in the same apartment building at Central Park West and West 92nd Street for more than 40 years. Their son and daughter, now grown and both settled in Los Angeles, attended Trinity School. “Basically, I grew up in the Bronx and have lived here my whole life,” Shepherd says. “Have you seen a change? Absolutely. I once lived in a brownstone, and it was a little dangerous there. It’s definitely safer and more homogenized. Our kids… We both walked to school and they loved it. And we spent countless hours at the Natural History Museum. Our favorite restaurant these days is Bodrum. There is no shortage of good restaurants.”
Shepard’s greatest decision was to help found the State University of New York School of Journalism on West 40th Street. It offers graduate-level programs for aspiring journalists who cannot afford to attend Columbia University or New York University. “We are now fully competitive with Columbia,” Shepherd says proudly. “It’s a year-and-a-half program and all students do an internship. Before we moved into the old Herald Tribune building, it was a wasteland. This is probably my proudest accomplishment. .”
For now, his hopes rest in the people he has grown up with, and may continue to grow with, Holden, Franny, Zooey, and the other characters created by this endlessly fascinating character. Masu.
Michelle Willens is the author of From Mouseketeer to Menopause.
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