weapons. >> it is like if you decapitate add co-worker, so they are taking away your ax. but you get to keep your job and your hatchett. >> be good now! be good! okay. anyway, forget that stuff. it is a downer. let's get to the book club. already in progress. >> now, as you know, i am a powerful media mogul. i have got my own show, i have got my best selling book. i have got an award winning twitter feed! and, of course, i have my massive daily e-mail blast of the internet best forwards. critics have raved, unsubscribe but i don't have my own network like the own network, which is owned by own-prah winfrey.

>> but now i do have this book club, which is why i have been chugging chardonnay since noon. .. and pitching about my sister-in-law sharon and the way she feeds my kids when they are over at her place. don't tell me they had dinner if all you gave them but a gogurt and a cliff bar, you bitch! [ applause ] >> speaking of drinking heavily, f. scott fitzgerald. that is the author we talked about last time. tonight, we will be talking about the biggest initials in 20th century literature, j.d. salinger. a man so reclusive his first two names are still a secret. was it joe don? juan diego? >> joe da plumber? >> unfortunately salinger cannot be with us tonight, either mtv booked him to appear on the

vma's, or -- [ cheers and applause ] >> stephen: -- or he died in 2010. only time will tell. but we have got a fantastic show later on we will be talking about salinger's literary influence with tobias wolff, author of "this boy's life" and we will be discussing the new documentary about salinger with its director shane salerno, who also cowrote the 1998 blockbuster, "armageddon". which is why at the end of the documentary, salinger blows himself up to save ben affleck. true story. [ cheers and applause ] >> stephen: that is based on a true story. now, salinger was fiercely protect if the of his privacy so let's invade his privacy in part one of my one-part series, better know salinger. >> j.d. salinger, the writin' j-d! salinger was born in -- salinger was born in 1919 to

miriam and sal, salinger, he was a mediocre student, ended up flunking out of the mcburney school in his sophomore year, apparently he had not read the sophomore book assignment mainly because he hadn't written it yet. from there, salinger went on to military school and was eventually drafted into world war ii. he was on utah beach on d-day, he fought in the battle of the bulge and liberate add concentration camp all the while writing short series the themes of alienation, depression and los of negligence. what an imagination! while in germany the half jewish salinger arrested a young nazi official named sylvia, who he then married and brought to america. the marriage lasted only eight months and according to salinger's daughter forever afterwards salinger referred to sylvia as saliva. which will go down in history as the kindest possible way to insult a nazi. in 1951, salinger released the

catcher in the try, the story of an adolescent named holden caulfield who skipped out in school, heads to the big city, where he goes to a jazz bar, looks for ducks in central park, takes in a museum, catches a cubs game, joins a twist and shout and before you know it holds, his dad's ferrari flies out of the window into the woods! [ applause ] >> since then catcher has been featured in the modern library and time magazine's list of 100 best novels selling over 65 million copies worldwide. to put that in perspective the joy of sex sold only 10 million copies worldwide and the catcher in the rye has no sex, and even less joy. >> notable fans, notable fans of the catcher in the rye include john hinckley, jr. who read it before shooting ronald reagan and mark david chatman who read it before shooting john lennon,

it is the most violent reaction to a book since 1963's tragic rash of pop hopping. >> in the final 45 years of his life, salinger did not publish any new material despite reportedly writing every day. that is right. he wrote things without immediately sharing them with the world and i will give you a moment to tweet how strange that is. [ applause ] >> stephen: now, the estate -- [ cheers and applause ] >> stephen: the estate of j.d. salinger is rumored to be publishing five new books in the upcoming years, the books are said to include a book on eastern mysticism, a collection of glass family stories and a prequel to his most famous work, the catcher in the rye, the phantom menace. though i am not entirely sure the world is ready for jar-jar caulfield. >> he is a goddamn phony!

>> in his later years sal jerry threatened to sue just about anyone who attempted to adapt his work, but do you see me shake, jerry so now i present to you a dramatic reading of stephen colbert's j.d. salinger's the catcher in the try. let me just get into character with my scarf, my red hunting cap, and my caulfield catcher in the try, i think that is the kind of book caulfield would carry around. here we go. chapter 1. if you really want to hear -- ♪ >> i would like to apologize to the estate of j.d. salinger. his publishers at little brown and company, and, of course,

patrick stewart, whose performance as phoebe will now never be seen. >> this here. sign this here, and right there. okay. thank you very much. of course, as popular as catcher in the rye is, it is not that good of a book. when we return, my guest author tobias wolff will dash himself on the rocks of my certainty. we will be right back. [ cheers and applause

>> stephen colbert presents, the c-olbert book club, tonight's selection. >> everything but catcher in the rye, by j.d. salinger. [ cheers and applause ] >> stephen: welcome back, everybody. the c-olbert book club! thanks so much! j.d. salinger, of course, is best known for catcher in the rye, considered perhaps the most important american novel that i don't get. no small achievement considering the thousands of other novels i don't get. i mean, good night moon, it makes no sense. the moon stays up at night. it should be good night, sun, hello moon, have a great evening. now, don't get me wrong. thank you. [ cheers and applause ] >> stephen: folks, don't get me wrong, i love j.d. salinger's short stories about the brilliant emotionally fragile glass family, there is just something habit the self-absorbed anxieties of emotionally stunted rich white

people that really speaks to me. the point is, i don't care if millions consider catcher in the rye j.d. salinger's best work, you will never convince me, here to convince me is the author of "this boy's life", please welcome tobias wolff. to bias, good to see you. >> okay. >> i'm sorry. can i -- was -- >> i'm fine, thank you. >> stephen: more for daddy. all right. i have to stay hydrated. now, to be bias, you believe. >> tobias, you believe this is one of the great american forms, true. >> i think it is a wonderful novel. >> stephen: did it influence your work. >> absolutely. >> stephen: because "this boy's life" i is a coming of age story in which you start off as yourself as you end up as leonardleonardo dicaprio. >> why do you -- why do you think this is a great novel and why do you think it talks to our

kids? >> well, i would say to begin with that i wish it weren't taught to the kids, because -- >> stephen: amen. >> part of the experience of finding that novel for myself was that i felt like i was being subversive when i was reading it, because here is a book that was really calling the adult world as i saw it then, a nest of hypocrisy, and phoniness, and that is something you want to discover on your own. you don't want your english teacher to be introducing you to the hypocrisy of adults. and so, you know, i still remember the night i read it. i was in a play, and i kept missing my -- because i was reading this book and laughing so hard, so in his thrall and i think when you discover the book in that way, it stays with you in that way the rest of your

life. you read it later, right? >> stephen: i didn't read it. it was assigned in tenth grade, and, you know, i think i get holden caulfield because i said i am not going to read that. [ cheers and applause ] >> stephen: i am more holden caulfield that holden caulfield, really. >> yeah. >> stephen: do you really think we should teach this stuff to the kids? because it had bad words in it and it has a prostitute in it and that is some spicy stuff. do we need to be reinforcing our kids bad behavior as teenagers with the idea they could be a character in a great novel? dad, i wasn't disobeying you, i was exploring modes of alienation. >> well, i would certainly want them to be introduced to that book rather than be trained in pompousness, pretentiousness, bogus spirituality, such as you find in the class stories. >> stephen: now, wait a

second. wait a second. the glass family stories, franny and zooey, and the carpenters, even down at the dingy if you want to. >> those are -- >> stephen: those are some of his finest works, some of his greatest works. you will admit that or you will pay a price. >> well, if you like -- >> stephen: what do you have against the glass family? >> do you like to read sermons all day? >> stephen: i give them. [ cheers and applause ] >> there is a wonderful little moment in catcher in the rye when holden is talking about the preachers that come to talk in the chapel and -- at -- and he talks about this holy joe tone that they take on, and oddly enough that is the tone he took on when he was writing these glass family stories. >> stephen: buddy glass who writes all of the stories, it even implies he wrote catcher in

the rye, everything. >> everything, right. >> stephen: okay. he says essentially i know that i am writing imperfect stories here and i will be get lost in my own lo constitutions and i use god in a way that is not a three letter expletive and actually think of him as sermonizing. he knows what he is doing but it is a confession. you are seeing who salinger really is, you don't like salinger, how dare you like his book. [ applause ] >> stephen: tobias wolff. "this boy's life" is also pretty go

>> stephen: welcome back, everybody. thanks so much. folks, my second guest tonight is the director of a new documentary, salinger, and coauthor of a book also called salinger. but if they have the same name, how will i know which is which? please welcome shane salerno. shane, thanks for coming and joining me. [ applause ] >> stephen: now -- >> i am good. >> stephen: again, i am the only thirsty one here tonight. now, shane, you are the coauthor of a new biography. >> yes. >> stephen: of j.d. salinger, you are also the writer and the director of a new movie again called salinger.

>> that's right. >> why did you throw yourself into the life of salinger? why is he your white whale? >> he was, that is a good way to put it. his life is so extraordinary. when i found out that j.d. salinger lost the love of his life to charlie chaplain. >> this is what a high roller salinger was. if eugene o'neill's daughter. >> yes. >> stephen: and at age 16 who is she dating. >> between 16 and 18, peter arnold. >> stephen: the great new york cartoonist. >> j.d. salinger and basically married charlie chaplain on her 18th birthday. >> stephen: from 16 to 18. >> she was an extraordinary woman. >> stephen: salinger goes off to fight world war ii. >> she goes to hollywood and meets comarly chaplain. >> stephen: but she is his girlfriend when he goes to the battle of the bulge and reads in the newspaper, guess what, your girlfriend just married charlie chaplain. >> yes. >> stephen: who is 53. >> yeah.

and she is 18. >> she is 18, and that changed his life forever, every woman was compared to una, she really imprinted upon him an age and period in his life. >> stephen: let's get into what i think is really the shocker in the book, the thing that really reveals sal jerry in his totality. >> he had one ball. that is a revelation in here. i did not know that before i read your book. it is true, right? >> it is one paragraph in a 700 page book. but it is true. >> stephen: it is. one paragraph, only one ball. >> now -- >> stephen: is that why he went for such young women, young virtual vin natural women. >> virgin natural and he would say, no, no they are all like that, they are all like that. >> .. i am going to take the fifth on that one. >> stephen: here is my beef. here is my beef with you.

why let me know these things about salinger? he was someone who guarded his privacy and i respected that privacy by not intruding because what if i find out things about him that creep me out? i am worried if i learn things about salinger that i don't like i won't like his books anymore is that a danger? >> i don't think that's the case in the last few weeks since the publicity of the film and the film has been released catcher in the rye jumped to number seven on amazon. >> stephen: why do you think we are still talking about a guy who hasn't really -- hasn't written anything anybody thought was really any good since the 1950's? >> salinger is a is a one-of-a-kind singular voice and the idea he worked for 45 years every single day and put that work in a vault to be released starting in 2,015. >> stephen: what do you hope those story are? and what do you hope they weren't? >> which one do you think -- will hate the most? >> i think what is going to be incredible to see him complete

the glass family, to see an artist complete something that he has been working on for 40 year. we have only seen half of the painting. that is what we have so far. we have half of the painting. >> stephen: why do you think he didn't let us see? he was writing every day and the stuff is really out there and i will take it on faith. why do you think he wouldn't let us see it. >> his religion says you don't do anything that feeds your ego. >> stephen: that sucks. [ applause ] >> stephen: do you know -- i don't know. i mean, you work in hollywood, so you may not know what feeding an ego is like. but you know how delicious it is to feed your ego? >> but i think that that is why. i mean, he really felt that the work itself was the reward, and so that after he passed away a few years it would be exactly five years after he passes away the work will start to be release sod he is not there for the ego gratification of seeing it published, that it is just a

pure artist delivering his work to an audience. >> stephen: why do you think that seymour shoots himself? >> because of the trauma suffered in world war 2 and salinger knew that extraordinarily well, and salinger walked into a concentration camp and never walked out and for the test of his life he was living in posttraumatic stress syndrome and our film details that and i think in an unprecedented fashion shows how damaged he really was. the interesting thing about world war ii and salinger is if j.d. salinger hadn't gone to world war ii we would haven't this work, so, you know,. >> stephen: so maybe we owe hitler maybe just a little apology. your words. your words. not mine. [ cheers and applause ] >> stephen: shane salerno, the book and a movie, salinger.

we will be rightk.

>> stephen: before we go, i want to thank les and jackie and walt and waker and booboo and franny and zooey and of course seymour, and -- i hope tonight's show does not lack captioning sponsored by comedy central captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org captioning made possible by comedy central - ♪ i'm going down to south park ♪ ♪ gonna have myself a time ♪ pa both: ♪ friendly faces everywhere ♪ eve

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