Which magazine published the Holden Caulfield story I'm Crazy?

The magazine that published J. D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield story “I'm Crazy” was Collier's.

The story appeared in the December 22, 1945 issue of the American magazine. It is one of Salinger's early treatments of Holden Caulfield, the character who would become the narrator and central figure of The Catcher in the Rye. The story presents Holden after his expulsion from Pencey Prep and contains scenes that Salinger later reshaped for the novel.

Readers sometimes confuse this publication history with “Slight Rebellion off Madison,” another early Holden story. That story was published by The New Yorker on December 21, 1946, a year after “I'm Crazy.” Salinger also published other early fiction in magazines such as Story and Esquire, which makes the periodical history easy to mix up.

Collier's was a broad-circulation American magazine, unlike the more literary reputation commonly associated with The New Yorker. The publication of “I'm Crazy” therefore marks an important early stage in Holden's development before the novel appeared in 1951.