Tag: j.d. salinger

Salinger’s Letter to Hemingway

March 26th, 2010

It’s always intriguing to hear of connections, whether phone conversations, correspondence or in-person meetings, between well-known authors. I’d forgotten that Ernest Hemingway and J.D. Salinger met when both were in Europe, during the WW II era.

Salinger’s subsequent letter to Hemingway, written when the former, then in the Army, was in a hospital in Germany, is being publicly displayed for the first time, beginning this Sunday at the John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum in Boston. Hemingway’s son, Patrick, will be on hand for the occasion.

The letter, long part of the library’s extensive Ernest Hemingway collection, has the younger writer reaching out to “Poppa” and reflecting on their meeting: “The talks I had with you here were the only hopeful minutes of the whole business,” wrote Salinger, who died Jan. 27 at age 91.

There’s no evidence that Hemingway ever replied with a letter, according to library director Thomas Putnam.

For more details, see the AP story, written by Bob Salsberg.
Salinger Letters Unveiled

February 12th, 2010

In life, J.D. Salinger bitterly fought against the release or publication of any of his letters – much less any unpublished works.

With his passing came hope that fans and scholars would have greater access to his writing, and thus would gain new insights into the life and work of the author, who went to great lengths to protect his privacy.

Encouraging news on that front came this week, with the unveiling of a set of 11 letters written by Salinger between 1951 and 1993. The collection will soon go on display at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York.

For the full report see Alison Cowan‘s piece in the New York Times, published Thursday.
Salinger Goes Hollywood (Finally)

February 3rd, 2010

(Yes, satire from Borowitz, originally posted on Huffington Post; story here)

HOLLYWOOD (The Borowitz Report) – Just hours after author J.D. Salinger passed away at his New Hampshire home on Wednesday, Hollywood studios were salivating at the chance to finally ruin his masterpiece, Catcher in the Rye.

“If we are fortunate enough to acquire the rights to Mr. Salinger’s book, we pledge to stay faithful to the spirit of Catcher in the Rye,” said Dougy Binstock, a producer at Columbia Pictures. “And the best way to do that is by producing it as a rock opera.”

But even as Mr. Binstock was bidding for the rights to produce a film he hopes to call Phantom of the Rye, Mindy Hammerfur, an executive at Paramount Pictures, said that she thought Salinger’s book was “seriously in need of a reboot.”

“We never find out in the book how Holden Caulfield becomes the catcher in the rye,” said Ms. Hammerfur. “The movie really needs to be kind of a prequel.”

But of all the potential bidders hoping to desecrate Catcher in the Rye, Avatar director James Cameron may have the inside track.

“I loved this book as a boy and I’m not going to add a thing,” Mr. Cameron said, “except blue space-cats.”

Tag: j.d. salinger

Salinger’s Letter to Hemingway

Salinger Letters Unveiled

Salinger Goes Hollywood (Finally)