Re: the "Maynard on Salinger" article

Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Thu, 06 Aug 1998 15:40:34 -0500 

> Is there any way to write without ego?  I haven't found it.

I think so.  The people writing today, well, we may have years or decades
to find out what they have done, but historically, I can think of Emily
Dickinson and Franz Kafka.  They'd never survive a week in today's
publishing business; the shelf life of their work would be shorter than
you'd get out of a container of unpasteurized milk in the summertime.

> If Salinger has a couple of books lying awaiting publication on his
> death, what are we to make of this?  Should we somehow look
> indulgently on it?  I don't think so.  If he's got something for us to
> read, let's have it - if not, well that's fine too.  He's already done
> a masterly job.  Perhaps, really, when it gets down to it -  that's
> his fear.

That's plausible, yes.

At the same time, the industry isn't exactly an encouragement to writers.
I have two friends who personally paid for and organized their book
publicity tours, because their publishers were completely disinterested in
investing time and the money in the books they were publishing.  Again to
use (why not?) milk as an example, imagine if farmers milked their cows and
left the milk out in the middle of a field in open trays in the sun.  We'd
think the farmers had gone mad (or were leaping into the sour cream
business).

But that kind of behavior happens often with books.  Which is why so many
writers are not exactly full of sympathy when their publishing houses moan
and groan about the bad state of business.

Think about what he'd be expected to do if he published a new book today.
At a minimum, the media would descend on Cornish and set up satellite
dishes at the foot of his driveway.  He'd be expected to do public
appearances and answer the question of what he has been up to for the last
30 years.

Much of this happened to Henry Roth when he published a book roughly 50
years after CALL IT SLEEP appeared in bookstores.  And he wasn't even
media-hostile; he just spent his life doing other things.

This last year, Don DeLillo actually made public appearances and submitted
to profiles in the print media.  (To be honest, I have to add that he also
appeared at least once when MAO II was released.)

Thomas Pynchon did not make public appearances when MASON & DIXON was
published, but he was stalked by reporters in New York City.

Anyone who has seen Salinger "ambush" pictures can read the man's face: he
doesn't want to be in front of cameras and microphones.  He wants to be
left alone -- his words, not mine.  And precious few publishers are
interested in writers who want to be left alone.

I suspect that a new Salinger title would do well even if the publisher
were a blockhead, and that appearances on television would not be remotely
necessary.  But I'd have a hard time imagining a publisher being happy with
that, or tolerating a "difficult" writer who wants to see his work appear
intact.

I'm not being reverent about him; perhaps he has attained a level of
spirituality that allows him to disregard himself and just tell a story.  I
don't know the answer to that.  But it's intriguing to consider.
Personally, I'd give Salinger the benefit of the doubt on that issue.

--tim o'connor