J.D. Salinger, 1919-2010

Reclusive writer J.D. Salinger, died recently. He was 91. His book, "The Catcher In The Rye", which has impressed many, many, many young readers, is his most famous novel. Its popularity was also the reason he shied away from the world and became a hermit. He's famous for having said, "There is a marvelous peace in not publishing. I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure." You can't be any truer to what you want to write than if you're your own audience.

Which begs the question: If he's been writing for himself all these years, where are those texts? Thus, this news article, What's In Salinger's Safe? It speculates that a stack of unpublished manuscripts by Salinger lies in a safe in his house. If so, I'm sure many of his readers would like to get their hands on them. So would a lot of publishers; I can imagine the dollar signs in their eyes. It all depends now on Salinger's estate, on whether they will release the manuscripts or not, if they exist at all.