Late August brought J.D. Salinger news…writing of the upswing in critical work being published on Salinger Michael Cieply and Julie Bosman reported in the New York Times reported that the Salinger estate was in possession of 5 manuscripts by Salinger. Five. In an unfavorable review of Shane Salerno’s recent work on Salinger written for the Los Angeles Review of Books Cornel Bonca paused from reviewing to describe the manuscripts and the breath of themes and characters that Salinger they reengage, and comes to the conclusion that “they might reroute the course of late 20th-century American literature” (7th paragraph in this long lucid review).
Late summer is a good moment to contemplate Salinger as with the return of students to campus comes the return of youth. Catcher in the Rye is one of the great treatise on youth, a book to be read when young, a book that makes reading the stuff of youth. Those of us for whom youth is a memory turn to Salinger has a tangible reminder, for the magic of time travel made real by reading. The news of new Salinger manuscripts may not make young again, but it certainly infuses early autumn with an optimism that the students here at SLU live out in their academic travels. It’s good almost October reading news…