Monday, July 19, 2004
The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective)
welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) will be published interminably (at least for a while), by Jonathanames.com. Just so you know, Jonathan Ames, our mentor here at this website, has a new book out called, Wake Up, Sir! Apparently, its getting some excellent notices!
___________________________________________________________________________________________
J. D. Salinger in New Jersey
Just recently, by email, I received the following message,
“San Diego State University has copies of Salinger's uncollected short stories.”
I imagine that Joel T. (who provided this information) was compelled to write because of the J.D. Salinger items that have appeared on this website. In one such article, I wrote,
“Back in college, I wrote my dissertation on some of Salinger’s uncollected stories. These are stories that Salinger wrote which were published in magazines like, The Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s. After Salinger got famous, the powers that be wanted to republish these stories in book form. Salinger didn’t want this and these stories have never been legally anthologized. […]If you want to find out where you can look up those uncollected Salinger stories, go to www.Salinger.org. On that website it says there are Salinger stories that were never published that have somehow ended up in the Princeton University Library Archives. I am hoping to finagle my way into the archives and get a look at those stories. If I do, I’ll let you know about it.”
Joel’s email got me thinking about Salinger again, and my pledge to investigate the unpublished Salinger stories at Princeton, so the other day I went there to check them out.
The whole experience was pretty neat. The Rare Books Division of Princeton’s Library (its called something like that anyway) has all sorts of Salinger stuff: letters from Salinger, letters about Salinger, and of course, the unpublished stories. I asked the very nice librarian who was helping me out where the Salinger stories came from, and he explained that they were from the archives of Story magazine. I’ve read Salinger stories that were published by Story, but these were the stories that Story rejected!
It was getting time for the library to close, and the librarian said that three people were already looking at the Salinger box, so I would probably only have time to register with the library today. As he was speaking these words, three jerky looking kids emerged from the special reading room. The librarian rolled his eyes from them to me, then said, “This is going to work out.”
So, with only a half hour before the library closed, I got a chance to look at the goods. What I was looking at were the xerox copies of the original manuscripts, which, as far as I know were typed by Salinger himself; so it was fun to see those, typos, handwritten corrections (though again, I couldn’t say if those were his) and all.
Because of the time, I only had time to read one of the six or so stories in the collection. I read The Last and Best of the Peter Pans. This story is told in the first person by Vincent Caulfield, who narrates many of the uncollected stories that were published. The “Peter Pan” in question is Vincent’s mother, who he’s talking to about joining the army. Vincent says of her,
“She has the damnedest eyes. They can make the world seem as spiritually fey as the sight of a child running across a gasoline-streaked road on a dark rainy day.” (p.6)
Anyway, I’ll have to go back and read the rest of the stories, and when I do, I’ll report back.
A side note: One of the people I was in Princeton with is a big Einstein fan, so when we saw on a map that there was an “Einstein Museum” we were, to varying degrees, excited. This museum was meant to be near a coffee shop we had passed many times, so we were confused that we had missed it. After walking by the spot it should have been, several more times, we went into a nearby bookstore for assistance. As soon as we started in on our query, the sophisticated looking older woman behind the counter began shaking her head. “They just say it’s a museum,” she said. “Really, it’s a clothing store, but they put that sign up, to trick people. I think it’s disgraceful, and I won’t shop there.”
Enraged, my friends and I went back outside to go to this clothing store/”museum” to beat the crapola out of the proprietors, but when we got there, it was closed. (After squinting at a small sign above the doorway, we noticed that, sure enough, it said something like, “Mini Einstein Museum in Back”. That just made us madder.)
After that, we went to the Princeton Record Exchange, where I bought a bunch of George Harrison records, and was bewitched by the girl behind the counter.
(Final Note: It’s possible that The Last and Best of the Peter Pans was published. It could be that Story had the manuscript, but that they also published it. I know I’ve heard the story mentioned, but I forget in what context. I went to check this on www.Salinger.org, but that website seems to be having some technical problems, so I’m not sure what the story is.)
welcomes questions about literary mysteries and scandals, which should be sent to: woodyswoody@hotmail.com. The Literary Dick (as in Private Detective) will be published interminably (at least for a while), by Jonathanames.com. Just so you know, Jonathan Ames, our mentor here at this website, has a new book out called, Wake Up, Sir! Apparently, its getting some excellent notices!
___________________________________________________________________________________________
J. D. Salinger in New Jersey
Just recently, by email, I received the following message,
“San Diego State University has copies of Salinger's uncollected short stories.”
I imagine that Joel T. (who provided this information) was compelled to write because of the J.D. Salinger items that have appeared on this website. In one such article, I wrote,
“Back in college, I wrote my dissertation on some of Salinger’s uncollected stories. These are stories that Salinger wrote which were published in magazines like, The Saturday Evening Post and Collier’s. After Salinger got famous, the powers that be wanted to republish these stories in book form. Salinger didn’t want this and these stories have never been legally anthologized. […]If you want to find out where you can look up those uncollected Salinger stories, go to www.Salinger.org. On that website it says there are Salinger stories that were never published that have somehow ended up in the Princeton University Library Archives. I am hoping to finagle my way into the archives and get a look at those stories. If I do, I’ll let you know about it.”
Joel’s email got me thinking about Salinger again, and my pledge to investigate the unpublished Salinger stories at Princeton, so the other day I went there to check them out.
The whole experience was pretty neat. The Rare Books Division of Princeton’s Library (its called something like that anyway) has all sorts of Salinger stuff: letters from Salinger, letters about Salinger, and of course, the unpublished stories. I asked the very nice librarian who was helping me out where the Salinger stories came from, and he explained that they were from the archives of Story magazine. I’ve read Salinger stories that were published by Story, but these were the stories that Story rejected!
It was getting time for the library to close, and the librarian said that three people were already looking at the Salinger box, so I would probably only have time to register with the library today. As he was speaking these words, three jerky looking kids emerged from the special reading room. The librarian rolled his eyes from them to me, then said, “This is going to work out.”
So, with only a half hour before the library closed, I got a chance to look at the goods. What I was looking at were the xerox copies of the original manuscripts, which, as far as I know were typed by Salinger himself; so it was fun to see those, typos, handwritten corrections (though again, I couldn’t say if those were his) and all.
Because of the time, I only had time to read one of the six or so stories in the collection. I read The Last and Best of the Peter Pans. This story is told in the first person by Vincent Caulfield, who narrates many of the uncollected stories that were published. The “Peter Pan” in question is Vincent’s mother, who he’s talking to about joining the army. Vincent says of her,
“She has the damnedest eyes. They can make the world seem as spiritually fey as the sight of a child running across a gasoline-streaked road on a dark rainy day.” (p.6)
Anyway, I’ll have to go back and read the rest of the stories, and when I do, I’ll report back.
A side note: One of the people I was in Princeton with is a big Einstein fan, so when we saw on a map that there was an “Einstein Museum” we were, to varying degrees, excited. This museum was meant to be near a coffee shop we had passed many times, so we were confused that we had missed it. After walking by the spot it should have been, several more times, we went into a nearby bookstore for assistance. As soon as we started in on our query, the sophisticated looking older woman behind the counter began shaking her head. “They just say it’s a museum,” she said. “Really, it’s a clothing store, but they put that sign up, to trick people. I think it’s disgraceful, and I won’t shop there.”
Enraged, my friends and I went back outside to go to this clothing store/”museum” to beat the crapola out of the proprietors, but when we got there, it was closed. (After squinting at a small sign above the doorway, we noticed that, sure enough, it said something like, “Mini Einstein Museum in Back”. That just made us madder.)
After that, we went to the Princeton Record Exchange, where I bought a bunch of George Harrison records, and was bewitched by the girl behind the counter.
(Final Note: It’s possible that The Last and Best of the Peter Pans was published. It could be that Story had the manuscript, but that they also published it. I know I’ve heard the story mentioned, but I forget in what context. I went to check this on www.Salinger.org, but that website seems to be having some technical problems, so I’m not sure what the story is.)
