Salinger (39 page)

On January 21, 1950 . . . American popular standard
:
Ibid.

“Every so often . . .
My Foolish Heart”
:
This quote comes from “The Screen in Review” by Bosley Crowther which
ran in the
New York Times
on January 20, 1950.

In the
New Yorker
. . . a couple of years ago”
: This quote comes from “The Current Cinema” by John McCarten which ran
in the
New Yorker
on January 28, 1950.

“In the future . . . Hollywood once”’
: This quote comes from my interview with A. Scott Berg.

The story begins . . . ever asking why
: “For Esmé—With Love and Squalor,”
Nine Stories,
Little, Brown, 1953.

On August 2 . . . my office”
: The note from Salinger to Carol Montgomery Newman as well as Newman’s quote about Salinger come from
material supplied to me by the Special Collections Department of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University.

One British publisher . . . ready to talk
: The Salinger-Hamish Hamilton correspondence is at Princeton.

It was then that . . . Eugene Reynal
: This account is remembered by Robert Giroux.

Toward the end of 1950 . . . thought it belonged
: The Salinger-
New Yorker
letters are in the Rare Books and
Manuscript Division of the New York Public Library.

Leila Hadley . . . for a decade
: From my interview with Leila Hadley. See also
A Religious Response to the Existentialist Dilemma in the
Fiction of J. D. Salinger
by Elizabeth N. Kurian, Intellectual Publishing House.

Consequently, like many . . . radiation treatments:
Genius in Disguise
: Harold Ross of the New Yorker
by Thomas Kunkel, Random House,
1995.

Maxwell’s profile . . . “and the imagination”: The
BMOC News
material was reprinted in
The Book of the Month
: Sixty
Years of Books in American Life
edited by Al Silverman, Little, Brown, 1986.

As for the acclaim
Catcher
received . . . “demoralizing”
: This quote from Eloise Perry Hazard is included in
J. D.
Salinger
by Warren French.

So, on April 17 . . . on schedule
: The Salinger-Hamish Hamilton letters are at Princeton.

In mid-May . . . for Evensong
: This paragraph is based on letters in the Salinger-Hamish Hamilton correspondence at Princeton.

In early September . . . optimistically
: The Salinger-Ross letters are in the Rare Books and Manuscript Division of the New York Public
Library.

In mid-November . . . short letter
: These two letters, one from Lobrano and one from Salinger, are in the Rare Books and
Manuscript Division of the New York Public Library.

Throughout October . . . regained consciousness
: This passage comes from material in
Genius in Disguise
by Thomas Kunkel.

“He wouldn’t live . . . a child’s voice”
: This quote comes from my interview with Mary D. Kierstead.

“The gossip was . . . phobia was”
: This quote comes from my interview with Tom Wolfe.

In late January . . . at most magazines
: On April 27, 1998, I published “The Talk of the Town,” an article about William Shawn and
Lillian Ross, in
New York.
For that article, I interviewed experts on and colleagues and friends of Shawn, among them Amanda Vaill, Frances Kiernan, Ved Mehta, Mary D. Kierstead,
Daniel Menaker, Naomi Bliven, Ian Frazier, Thomas Kunkel, Tom Yagoda, and Gigi Mahon.

Around this time . . . angry at him
: The Salinger-Burnett correspondence is at Princeton.

When Hamish Hamilton heard . . . Florida and Mexico
: These two letters are at Princeton.

On the evening they . . . hinted at it”
: These paragraphs, including the direct quotes, come from my interview with Leila Hadley.

The land belonged to . . . February 16, 1953
: This passage is based on information I received from the Sullivan County
Courthouse in Newport, New Hampshire.

On January 31 . . . within four tiled walls”
: “Teddy,”
Nine Stories,
Little, Brown, 1953.

On the second . . . new life in the country
: The Salinger-Hamish Hamilton correspondence is at Princeton.

In early April . . . made him want to write more
: Salinger’s letter to the
New Yorker
is in the Rare Books and Manuscript Division
of the New York Public Library.

In the future Nabokov himself . . .
Lolita
: Strong Opinions
by Vladimir Nabokov, Vintage, 1974.

“I never saw anyone fit in . . . to play just one more”
: This comment was made by Shirlie Blaney to Ernest Havemann for his article
“The Search for the Mysterious J. D. Salinger” which appeared in
Life
on November 3, 1961.

He was born on January 1, 1919 . . . Salinger ended the interview
: “Interview With an Author” by Shirlie Blaney,
The Claremont
Daily Eagle,
November 13, 1953.

It was following this episode . . . around the house
: This detail comes from “The Search for the Mysterious J. D. Salinger.”

Then, at one party . . . nineteen-year-old
: This description of the family of Claire Douglas comes from “Sonny: An
Introduction,” “The Search for the Mysterious J. D. Salinger,”
J. D. Salinger
by Warren French, and the Salingers’ certificate of marriage issued by the State
of Vermont.

Not long after the party . . . she was dating
both
men: “Sonny
: An Introduction.”

On another front Hamish Hamilton . . . in the series
: This letter from Hamish Hamilton to Salinger is at Princeton.

He wired Hamilton . . . that was that
: Salinger’s letter to Hamish Hamilton is at Princeton,

In December, Salinger and Lobrano . . . for Christmas
: These letters exchanged between Salinger and Gus Lobrano are in the Rare Books and
Manuscript Division of the New York Public Library.

The plot to “Franny” . . . whether she wants to or not
: “Franny,”
Franny and Zooey,
Little, Brown, 1961.

To be accurate . . . to Salinger
: This information comes from my interview with Frances Glassmoyer.

On his marriage certificate . . . first marriage
: This detail comes from Salinger’s certificate of marriage.

“One afternoon I was up at Columbia . . . quick-witted young man”
: This quote comes from my interview with Dorothy Ferrell.

“It’s anybody’s guess . . . or over it”
: S. J. Perelman made this comment in a letter to Leila Hadley at the time; the
quote was reproduced by Phoebe Hoban in her article “The Salinger File” which appeared in
New York
magazine on June 15, 1987.

They also visited . . . “true Karma yogi”
: The correspondence between Salinger and Judge Learned Hand is in the Houghton Library at
Harvard University.

“Mr. Shawn was a wonderful man . . . with one another”
: This quote comes from my interview with Mary D. Kierstead.

“When he first came . . . but he did”
: This quote comes from my interview with Roger Angell.

“What follows directly” . . . “by way of explanation”
: “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters,”
Raise High
the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction,
Little, Brown, 1963.

Because Sol Salinger . . . doting, accepting
: This impression of Sol comes from my interview with Richard Gonder and is reflected in several
stories.

“It is clear . . . the Quest”: “J. D. Salinger
: Some Crazy Cliff” by Arthur Heisermann and James E. Miller has been
reprinted in various anthologies, among them
Salinger: A Critical and Personal Portrait
edited by Henry Anatole Grunwald, Harper and Brothers, 1962.

In March 1956 . . . Diamond Jubilee Issue
: I was given a copy of this story by Michael Solomon.

Cutting his own work . . . “wait for so eagerly”
: This letter from Katherine White to Salinger is in the Rare
Books and Manuscript Division of the New York Public Library.

Eager to visit with Hamilton . . . could see her
: This letter from Salinger to Hamish Hamilton is at Princeton.

The narrator of “Zooey” . . . “smiling at the ceiling”
: “Zooey,”
Franny and Zooey,
Little, Brown,
1961.

What the publishing . . . at this moment
: This Salinger-Little, Brown correspondence was described in a catalogue published by the Book Department
of Sotheby’s in 1997; I was given a copy by Sotheby’s of the page of the catalogue on which this letter was described.

The episode . . . Hamilton again
: The information in this passage comes from the Salinger-Hamish Hamilton correspondence which is at
Princeton.

“He was in New York . . . talk with me”
: This quote comes from “The Private World of J. D. Salinger” by Edward Kosner
which appeared in the
New York Post
on April 30, 1961.

By the time Salinger wrote . . . his own writing: “Seymour: An Introduction,”
Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour
: An
Introduction,
Little, Brown, 1963.

“Read J. D. Salinger’s . . . enchanted”
:
The Journals of Sylvia Plath
by Sylvia Plath, Dial Press, 1982.

Burnett made his request . . . changed his mind
: These letters are at Princeton.

These and other rumors . . . was write
: Edward Kosner supplied me with a copy of his article “The Private World of J. D.
Salinger.”

The magazine’s cover . . . unusual drawings
: A copy of the September 15, 1961
Time
is in the general collection of the Butler
Library at Columbia University.

“I had already done . . . readings of his stories”
: This quote comes from my interview with Russell Hoban.

On the issue of his fondness . . . “is clearly an original”
:
In Search of J. D. Salinger
by Ian Hamilton.

“In February 1962 . . . why he loved his work”
: These quotes come from my interview with Gordon Lish.

The story is . . . and so on
: I was given a copy of “Hapworth 16, 1924” by Michael Solomon.

“In fact . . . the outer world anymore”
: This quote comes from my interview with Edward Kosner.

During 1964 . . . “I felt embarrassed to use it”
: The Salinger-Burnett correspondence is at Princeton.

“In April of 1965 . . . increase our circulation”
: This quote comes from my interview with Tom Wolfe.

“Claire Salinger was a wonderful . . . nobody interrupted him”
: This quote comes from my interview with Ethel
Nelson.

“I think it was tough . . . his little writing room”
:
Ibid.

“There was some gossip . . . eating habits”
: This quote comes from my interview with Warren French.

By the summer of 1966 . . . given to me”
: This letter is among the Salingers’ divorce papers which are on file in the Sullivan County
Courthouse in Newport, New Hampshire.

In the divorce papers . . . “endangered her reason”
: This information is from the Salingers’ divorce papers.

“I found some improvement . . . mental upset”
: This letter is among the Salingers’ divorce papers.

The cause of the divorce . . . “payment of tuitions”
: This information comes from the Salingers’ divorce papers.

Towards the end of 1968 . . . wished him well
: These letters are at Princeton.

Through the years . . . looking at Charles Addams
: This quote comes from my interview with Andreas Brown.

“I heard local gossip . . . through the years”
: This quote is taken from a letter written by Warren French to me on December 1,
1997.

“Sitting on the floor . . . clearly a woman”
: A reprint of this cover is included in
At Home in the World
by Joyce Maynard,
Picador, 1998.

“There were pictures . . . the Lolita of all Lolitas”
: This quote comes from an unnamed source.

Salinger, who would . . . of Yale University
: A copy of Maynard’s
Times Magazine
cover story is in the general collection of the
Butler Library at Columbia University.

In 1972, Joyce Maynard . . . did not share
: Much of the material here is in
At Home in the World
by Joyce Maynard. A version of this
passage was included in “J. D. Salinger’s Women,” an article I published in
New York
magazine on February 2, 1998.

“When I walked . . . off a radiator”
: This quote comes from my interview with Leslie Epstein.

So, late in the spring . . . “J. D. Salinger”
:
At Home in the World
by Joyce Maynard.

“It was known . . . protecting her”
: This quote comes from my interview with Samuel Heath.

“Her father was furious . . . to sell out”
: This quote comes from an unnamed source.

No doubt Joyce . . . ten months
: Much of this material is confirmed in
At Home in the World
by Joyce Maynard.