Re: Your Amazon.com order (#0226-3353936-425551) (fwd)
Sundeep Dougal (holden@giasdl01.vsnl.net.in)
Fri, 03 Dec 1999 03:00:55 +0530
> This is ridiculous. Why on earth would JDS bother to float something
like
> this if he didn't plan to follow through with it? I'm starting to
wonder if
I heard from someone who overheard someone else who was sworn to
secrecy by the Salinger family butler that friends of JDS had decided
to float this on amazon to payoff Maynard so she wouldn't publish.
Another unsubstantiated rumour has something to do with amazon stock
price being used to buy silence. But who can stop lips silently
moving?
Other speculation has something to do with the same chappie who had
paid for JDS letters that came up for auction. Apparently, he stepped
in & quietly paid up, though my informant said that there were
typographical problems too. Remember what Buddy says, that he intends
to "type up an exact copy of the letter, word for word, comma for
comma".
Apparently, JDS insisted on fresh plates made from the original
typescript, but in these word-processing days, costs were a factor
and with old age, and falling eyesight, proofing also was a bit of a
problem, what with that blasted Zooey sitting with the one and only
manuscript in his bath all the time. Apparently all that moisture and
damp can be damaging. I am told there are some soup stains too,
but the butler wasn't sure if they were merely grease marks from a
half-eaten chicken sandwich that Franny may have carelessly left
over it, blurring some of the manuscript. And JDS wants to really
fuss over it, surely what would the critics say otherwise?
And with Muriel threatening court orders forbidding publication,
citing the judgement in Random House (or maybe it was Ian
Hamilton) versus J.D. Salinger, it's a bit of a legal tangle anyway.
She claims she's the heir to not just the haikus.
Welcome back Paul, and I join you in supporting De Maurier.
The most heartening thing JDS ever wrote apart from Catcher.
Sonny