Re: new Salinger memoir may be published
Tim O'Connor (tim@roughdraft.org)
Sat, 22 Nov 1997 17:25:48 -0500
> The article about Joyce Maynard sounds to me like Mr. Salinger was very
> kind to her a long time ago and now she's cashing in on it...don't know
> much about Joyce Maynard as a writer...is she any good? I wondered if she
> was turning to writing a confessional affair with jds because she has
> nothing better to write about...or if there's a fine story in her history.
There was a biographical piece on her in Esquire, I recall, quite a few
years ago, after she became something of a "voice of her generation"
creation of the media. I believe she worked for the Times for a while,
wrote her memoir, did some radio commentary, and published a novel in the
1980s, Baby Love. She wrote other fiction after that, but I never got
around to it. She also wrote a column for a number of years about the
experience of raising kids and having (what seemed to me like) an idealized
home life. The only times I paid attention to her byline, in newspapers or
magazines, was to see if she might let slip something about her friendship
with Salinger.
> I have to admit, I loved the feel of haning with "jerry" in _Shoeless Joe_
> by W.P. Kinsella, and will probably quickly buy and read Maynard's book
> when it comes out. will
I thought Kinsella made a lovely imaginary portrait of "Jerry"; Joyce
Maynard was known well for her absolute discretion about anything having to
do with Salinger, so this news is quite surprising. If she writes it with
any consideration for her subject, it may well be an affectionate and
respectful picture. I'd like to think that's how it would turn out.
--tim