 In 1947 , the author submitted a short story titled simply " The Bananafish " to The New Yorker . William Maxwell , the magazine 's fiction editor , was impressed enough with " the singular quality of the story " that the magazine asked Salinger to continue revising it . He spent a year reworking it with New Yorker editors and the magazine accepted the story , now titled " A Perfect Day for Bananafish " , and published it in the January 31 , 1948 issue . The magazine thereon offered Salinger a " first @-@ look " contract that allowed them right of first refusal on any future stories . The critical acclaim accorded " Bananafish " , coupled with problems Salinger had with stories being altered by the " slicks " , led him to publish almost exclusively in The New Yorker . " Bananafish " was also the first of Salinger 's published stories to feature the Glasses , a fictional family consisting of two retired vaudeville performers and their seven precocious children : Seymour , Buddy , Boo Boo , Walt , Waker , Zooey , and Franny . Salinger eventually published seven stories about the Glasses , developing a detailed family history and focusing particularly on Seymour , the brilliant but troubled eldest child . 
