Wednesday, August 28, 2013

Claims that new Salinger novels 'will be released in 2015'


J D Salinger wrote a sequel to The Catcher in the Rye which will soon be published, a report claims.
The writer, famed as a recluse who published nothing between the 1960s and the end of his life in 2010, found fame as the author of The Catcher in the Rye, which followed teenage protagonist Holden Caulfield.

A new book on Salinger by author David Shields and filmmaker Shane Salerno claims that releases are being planned for 2015 for unpublished works which would revisit the Caulfield character, according to an Associated Press report published in the Guardian. A spokesperson for S&S UK confirmed to The Bookseller that the claims are indeed contained in the new book.
The book cites "two independent and separate sources", and claims to have "documented and verified" the information. No potential publishers are mentioned.

The book claimed new material would also feature the Glass family,  who appeared in other Salinger stories such as Franny and Zooey, and draw on Salinger's experiences in the Second World War and his interest in Eastern religion.
Shield and Salerno's book, Salinger, is due to be published internationally by Simon & Schuster on 3rd September and accompanies a documentary film about the writer's life. It draws on extensive material and interviews with many who knew Salinger, though it did not have the cooperation of the Salinger estate, run by Salinger's son Matt and his widow, Coleen O'Neill.
Salerno said the project has been underway for eight years, and said he has spent $2m travelling and researching the film and book, acquiring photos and letters. The film will be released by the Weinstein Company on 6th September.

The Guardian report said Little, Brown, Salinger's publisher in the US, did not respond to requests for comment, and neither did the Salinger family.
Jonathan Karp, president and publisher of Simon & Schuster, has said that he trusts the authors' sourcing and their claim that new works will be published. "I don't ask Bob Woodward his sources," said Karp, who publishes Woodward. "We have made the determination to trust these authors. I believe the sourcing is solid because of the preponderance of on-the-record material that is airtight."

In an interview given to the New York Times in 1974, Salinger claimed to write every day for himself. However, even plans by small press Orchises to re-publish novella Hapworth 16,1924, originally released in the New Yorker in 1965, were scuppered when Salinger backed out following a leak of the news.

No comments: