J.D. Salinger

I think J.D. Salinger is fascinating because he is almost as famous for his reclusive life as he is for his writing. Born in New York City, he served in World War II, which I think profoundly shaped the sensitivity and disillusionment you see in his characters. He is, of course, immortalized by The Catcher in the Rye, which became a sort of bible for restless, misunderstood youth everywhere. Beyond that, he wrote incredible stories about the Glass family—like Franny and Zooey and Nine Stories—that are just masterclasses in dialogue and character study. He spent the last several decades of his life living in total isolation in Cornish, New Hampshire, refusing interviews and rarely publishing anything new. He really changed how authors could be perceived by the public, becoming this legendary, mysterious figure who let his work speak entirely for itself.