Franny and Zooey
by J. D. Salinger
Summary
The novel pairs a short story following college student Franny Glass through a spiritual crisis at a weekend visit with her boyfriend and a longer story in which her actor brother Zooey tries to talk her back from despair in their family's cluttered Manhattan apartment. Salinger returns to his recurring Glass family to explore religious searching, intellectual pretension, and sibling love with the same precise ear for dialogue that had made The Catcher in the Rye so distinctive. The book became a bestseller and deepened the mythology Salinger was building around his fictional family.
Historical Context & Significance
The 1962 National Book Award for fiction went to Walker Percy's debut novel The Moviegoer, a considerable upset over several favored finalists including Salinger's book. Salinger would publish only a handful of further stories before withdrawing almost entirely from public life.