Teddy (J. D. Salinger short story, English) Add a review

"Teddy" is a short story by J. D. Salinger, completed on November 22, 1952, and originally published in the January 31, 1953, issue of The New Yorker. Under the influence of The Gospel of Sri Ramakrishna, Salinger created an engaging child character, Teddy McArdle, to introduce to his readership some of the basic concepts of Zen enlightenment and Vedanta reincarnation – a task that Salinger recognized would require overcoming some 1950s American cultural chauvinism.

Salinger wrote "Teddy" while he was arranging publication for a number of his short stories and crafted the story to balance and contrast the collections' intended opening work "A Perfect Day for Bananafish".

In Salinger's novella, "Seymour: An Introduction", a meditation written by a member of the fictional Glass family, Buddy Glass about his brother, Seymour, Buddy claims authorship to "Teddy" as well as other pieces in Nine Stories.