Stephen Colbert, the brainy and ornery television host, announced on April 29th that Salinger would be his guest on the next evening’s show. However, on the April 30th show, Colbert apologized and admitted that he was simply challenging Salinger to show up. Noting that Salinger is one of the most reclusive famous person’s in recent history, Colbert noted, “Salinger is what is known in the talk show business as a ‘good get.’”
JD Salinger is one of America’s most well-known writers. The author of Catcher in the Rye, Franny and Zooey, and numerous short stories, Salinger has not made any public appearances or even engaged in a media interview since 1980.
One of the few known facts about Salinger is that he has had a long-term serious interest in the internationally popular but controversial medical system of homeopathic medicine. Margaret Salinger, the author’s daughter, wrote a book about her family, Dream Catcher, noting that her father typically spent several hours each day studying homeopathic medicine.
In 1998, Joyce Maynard, a New York Times columnist, wrote a book about her year-long affair with Salinger, where she also noted Salinger’s special love for homeopathy. Maynard noted that Salinger typically prescribed homeopathic medicines for his family, her family, and even pets, often with surprisingly good results.
Dana Ullman, MPH, author of The Homeopathic Revolution: Why Famous People and Cultural Heroes Choose Homeopathy, asserts, “Salinger is a part of a long and still present tradition of literary greats who have an appreciation and even an advocacy for homeopathic medicine. Emerson, Thoreau, Longfellow, Dickinson, Twain, and Irving are but some of the American literary greats who used or advocated for homeopathy, while some of the European greats includes Goethe, Dostoevsky, Chekhov, Tennyson, Dickens, Shaw, and Conan Doyle.”
Ullman also noted that many modern literary greats have also advocated for homeopathy, including Gabriel Garcia Marquez (Love in a Time of Cholera), Barbara Cartland (famed romance writer), and Norman Cousins (editor, Saturday Review).
Ullman admits that it has not simply been literary greats to have interest in or passion for homeopathic medicine. “I have uncovered some amazing stories about 11 U.S. Presidents and numerous other world leaders, 7 popes and many other clergy and spiritual leaders, sports superstars, world-class musicians, corporate leaders, and dozens of A-list celebrities. My book, The Homeopathic Revolution, is full of these amazing people and their use of or appreciation for homeopathy.”
As a “community service,” Ullman recently offered himself as “bait” for Salinger. Ullman has proposed that Colbert invite him to his show and to bring the nine books that he has written on homeopathy. Ullman notes, “Colbert is a very clever man, but unless he knows what bait to use, he won’t get this reclusive fish.”
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