New Works By J.D. Salinger Reportedly To Be Published

While J.D. Salinger is most known for publishing popular works like The Catcher in the Rye and the literary collection Nine Stories, he also lived out a unique existence for most of his life, living on a property in New Hampshire and only leaving on occasion. After the success of The Catcher in the Rye and a few other publishing ventures, he stopped publishing altogether, but he never stopped writing, and just a few years after his death in 2010 at the age of 91, it seems fans of the author’s works may get to read more of them.

David Shields and Shane Salerno have been working on Salinger, a brand new biography and documentary of the reclusive author, for some time. The two have uncovered information that Salinger left behind a specific timetable instructing publishers on what to publish among the works he left behind, and when. If the information holds true, we won’t see new works from the author until at least 2015, after which additional publications of Salinger works will continue until about 2020.

According to NPR, there will be five new Glass family stories that will be released, as well as a novel covering his relationship with his first wife, Sylvia Welter. A separate New York Times account discussing the documentary and biography also notes that an update on Holden Caulfield and his family might be among the published writings coming in the future.

The planned publications are the icing on the cake for the two researchers, who spent quite a bit of time delving into the reclusive author’s life before learning about the planned publications from two separate sources. The individual sources are being kept anonymous, but each provided detailed information about the publications in the works. Salinger’s son, Matthew Salinger, and his widow, Colleen O’Neill, declined to comment, though.

Most historians are in agreement that Salinger did continue writing after his last publication, “Hapworth 16, 1924,” was published in the New Yorker in the sixties. Even if most of the above writings don’t come to fruition, it should be alright, as long as one or two of the rumors do hold true. I think most Salinger fans would be interested to see what the author was busy creating after he had locked out most people from his life. Did the writer grow more thoughtful with age or did he lose the fervor for writing he’d maintained in his younger years? Soon, we may be able to find out.

In the meantime, you can catch the Salinger biography on shelves next week or check out the trailer for the documentary, which was created only after nine years of research and was financed by the Weinstein Company for a September release. That documentary will air on PBS after its initial run.