Salinger J. D.



J.D. Salinger TLS Regarding "our old capers between White Plains and Westport"







1p TLS signed by American author J.D. Salinger as "Jerry." Typed on vivid golden rod colored paper, 8.5" x 11". Written on June 13, 1970 in response to a May 14, 1970 letter from correspondent Joyce Miller, a contemporary copy of whose letter is included also. Salinger's letter is accompanied by a stamped envelope postmarked from Windsor, Vermont and addressed to "Miss Joyce Miller." All items are in near fine condition, with expected light paper folds.







Joyce Miller had been a staff writer at The New Yorker, where Salinger had published most of his short stories since 1942. It's likely that Salinger met Joyce through his ties to the magazine. Although most believe that their relationship was never romantic, Salinger's biographer Kenneth Slawenski speculates that Salinger may have been interested in Miller at one time. The two corresponded for many years.







Joyce wrote that she had wanted Salinger to attend her 40th birthday party. Upon reflection, she wrote: "You are a very profound part of my life: You saved me from mediocrity, and gave me a sense of self that has stayed with me…While letting my mind wander while trying to reach you on the telephone, I also recalled that we met on May 10th, twenty years ago…Oddly, it really doesn't seem terribly long ago; I can go back so easily and remember so much of those days and times, with tenderness."







J.D. Salinger replied in a tone made famous by his snarky teenaged protagonist Holden Caulfield: "Happy Forties, though, Joyce. If I'd known you were having such a landmarky birthday, I'd have given you Nixon. And thank you for the birthday invitation, even though we got our signals crossed. I might not have made it -- I don't get around much, at least not terribly willingly -- but I think it must have been a good party. You're a sport. All them capons and that music."







During the heyday of their friendship, Salinger, who was then living in Westport, Connecticut finishing The Catcher in the Rye, and Joyce, who was commuting to Manhattan from White Plains, New York, often met. Salinger wrote: "…it's also terrifically nice that you say you remember our old capers between White Plains and Westport with affection. So do I. I don't know how it got done, the mind having all the strings and padlocks it has, but we did get some real and deep-set fun done between us. On our own terms, which is quite a miracle. It's odd and a tremendous comfort that we had the same specialized notion of fun and games. I really don't know how much of it was strictly native to the types we were and are…"







Joyce was evidently an aspiring writer who had not yet shown Salinger her manuscript of an "immortal subway tale." Salinger was captivated by the idea of a story set against such an urban backdrop. "On gray days, my thoughts run to that fine indulgent setting, adding little touches here and there to the old plot-line. I wonder if old basic plots ever go way. I think they just thicken and thicken." Salinger's comments reveal that he never stopped thinking like a writer. He liberally drew on real life situations, settings, and relationships to inspire his literary work.







American writer J.D. Salinger reached cult status after the publication of his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye, which captured the jaded zeitgeist of a postwar adolescent generation. Salinger profiled members of the zany Glass Family in a string of short stories and novels including Franny and Zooey (1961).







WE PROVIDE IN-HOUSE SHIPPING WORLDWIDE!