It's been a year since J.D. Salinger's passing, and the deluge of revelations about his life and work that I thought would follow, hasn't happened. It's all quiet on the Salinger-front. The curiosity and interest elicited by his hermetic life seems to have ebbed rather than spiked with his death. I followed the trickle of half-hearted obituaries published in January 2010. And then in the months that followed sat back and waited for all sorts of Salinger projects to announce themselves. Now after a whole year it has still been low key, almost as if his wishes to be left alone have been respected. There haven't even been updates on the most sensational Salinger project that made headlines last January: a film about Salinger that was to premier at Cannes. Will it show up this year at Cannes?
Over the year I've kept my eyes and ears tuned to whatever Salinger-themed news story that might be unfolding, and did find a few: one that was especially poignant, but I'll save that for last. The documentary is a good place to begin. Called simply “Salinger”, it is the long-term project of a hot young screenwriter (currently scripting James Cameron's new feature, “Fantastic Voyage”) called Shane Salerno; an exhaustively researched two-hour doc that will shed new light on many aspects of the hermit-poet's life. As proof of this, the screenwriter released never-before-seen photos of the author. Apparently there was so much material that Salerno, along with writer David Shields, hopes to turn it into a book, an epic biography to be called ‘The Private War of J.D. Salinger'.
But Salerno's film isn't the first doc on Salinger as many seem to think. A couple of years ago there was a little French film called “Catching Salinger” that was doing the festival and straight to video rounds. A mostly unremarkable doc that just may contain a coup for an ending. A writer wakes up in Paris and thinks to himself whatever happened to the author of The Catcher in the Rye ? He sets off to New York with a cameraman and visits Salinger's old haunts in the city, including the apartment building he grew up in before he became famous. He talks to a few writers to find out how they feel about S and then he sets off to ferret out the hermit's house in the woods, hoping for a meeting. They lose their way in the woods, and turn back without finding S's house.
Finding their way out, the car with the camera trained on to the woods rushes past a tall white-haired old man by the side of the road. For a moment he looks — glares — straight into the camera, and before you can register who what the vehicle zooms past him. The filmmaker never comments on who that might have been, leaving you wondering if it was him. That ending is mainly why “Catching Salinger” is of any interest.
Exciting event
The most exciting Salinger event as far as I am concerned are the new set of book covers he approved just before his death. We are all so used to seeing (and liking) those plain Salinger book covers with their emphasis on title design and typography, but all this has just changed.
Hamish Hamilton commissioned type designer Seb Lester to come up with new covers. The cover design keeps to the old style of title design as cover art, but with a little more flourish. In an interview to The Creative Review, Lester said, “The direction chosen, which I prefer for both aesthetic and functional reasons, has a timeless and classical beauty about it – I hope. The inline treatment and style of flourishing have echoes of classic typefaces and lettering from the mid-20th century period when the books were written…I feel incredibly privileged to have worked on this project. It really felt like a once in a lifetime opportunity so the pressure was on – not least because I knew JD Salinger would be approving the book jackets himself.”
Fascinating story
And then finally there is the sweet, fascinating, sad story of how a small press publisher came this close to publishing the only unpublished Salinger novella. Roger Lathbury, an English professor who ran Orchises Press told New York magazine the so-far untold story of how he was chosen by Salinger to publish “Hapworth 16 1924”, and how it all went wrong. In 1988 Lathbury took a chance and wrote to Salinger asking if Orchises could publish “Hapworth”. And Salinger actually wrote a short note back, saying he would consider it. Then eight years went by without word from S. Finally, a large envelope arrives out of the blue.
“It had been addressed on a Royal manual typewriter,” Lathbury writes, “the same as the 1988 note. Inside was a full-page letter, and it took my breath away. Chatty, personal, with that rare sweet and endearing tone that characterizes the story I wanted to publish, it expressed Salinger's high pleasure in finding a way to put out Hapworth. He proposed a meeting. Why had he said yes? I think he chose me because I didn't chase him. I had left him alone for eight years after receiving his letter; I wasn't pushy in the commercial way he found offensive…Later that week, I was in my office and the phone rang. “Mr. Lathbury, please.” “That's me.” “This is Salinger.” I swallowed. “I, um, am glad you called. Thank you for your letter.”
They fix a meeting where they discuss details. Salinger says he doesn't want his name on the cover. The book could be sold only at its retail price, could not be stocked in bookstores, and were to be sold directly to anyone interested in buying it. They exchanged a flurry of letters, and soon after contracts were drawn.
And then a routine publishing process Lathbury performed unwittingly – applying for Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication data – unravelled “the whole deal.” The listing automatically showed up on Amazon.com, tipping off journalists. The story exploded. It was nobody's fault but Salinger must have felt betrayed. And that was that. “In the end”, Lathbury says, “I'm left with a… stack of wonderful, kind letters from a man who has meant as much to readers as any writer ever can. I have not looked at those letters in years; to reread them would be too painful. Nor will I sell them. That, at least, I can do.”
