In order to allay the evident anxieties of list-members I can now reveal that Salinger has moved to Ireland & is living here with me & my family in County Cork. He has, in fact, been with us for several years. All that stuff about New York state was a cover story - one in which Mr Salvaggio has played a splendidly convincing role. You'll all be delighted to learn that the great man is in excellent health & spirits. I'm reluctant (as you'll appreciate) to go into too many details of his personal life, though he seems very eager for me to do so. I've asked him to think it over at leisure before I embark on further revelations. We have only a rather modest suburban home but I've been able to provide him with a small wooden shed at the end of our garden & he goes out there first thing each morning & types away until I bring him back into the house around 7 in the evening. He asks me to check his production at the end of each day's work. He still insists on a remorseless use of the lower case in the manuscript but accepts with good grace my corrections of grammar & spelling. He keeps asking me for suggestions - snappy phrases for dialogue, modern images to liven up his metaphors & so on - & seems excessively grateful when I make these. In all modesty, I think the new book will show the benefit of our joint efforts. The novel itself is now approaching its 4,000th page. In its scope & tone it evokes most nearly a kind of modern `A la Recherche du Tom Purdoo'. I've no idea when he will think fit to release it. Sometimes when I see him staggering in at the end of the day with yet another boxful of paper I think it might be a kindness to whisk it all away & set fire to the shed. I've promised myself, though, not to give way to this impulse but to ponder it long - & report back to the list for final guidance. Scottie B.