Notoriously reclusive author J.D. Salinger must be turning over in his grave.
Nearly 50 years since his last story was published, three of Salinger's earliest, and previously uncollected, works have been made available to the public in a new book entitled J.D. Salinger: Three Early Stories.
The book, the first of Salinger's to include illustrations, brings together “The Young Folks,” originally published in a 1940 issue of Story magazine; “Go See Eddie,” published in 1940 in the University of Kansas City Review; and “Once a Week Won’t Kill You,” which appeared in a 1944 issue of Story magazine, according to the publisher. Each story also features female characters, The Washington Post notes.
The book's publisher, Devault-Graves Agency, reportedly had to go through some loopholes to avoid legal issues with the Salinger estate. The fact that Salinger had never registered the stories provided the publisher some leeway.
“We had the choice of adding annotations and educational materials to the book or a set of new illustrations,” Darrin Devault, co-founder of the Devault-Graves Agency, told The Washington Post.
Years before his death in 2010, The Catcher in the Rye author vehemently made clear his opposition to the republication of his uncollected works. After a court battle over the unauthorized publication of some of his stories, Salinger told The New York Times: "Some stories, my property, have been stolen ... It's an illicit act. It's unfair. Suppose you had a coat you liked and somebody went into your closet and stole it."
"There is a marvelous peace in not publishing. It's peaceful. Still. Publishing is a terrible invasion of my privacy," Salinger told the outlet in 1974. "I like to write. I love to write. But I write just for myself and my own pleasure."
We can also expect more Salinger stories in forthcoming years: The Washington Post notes the J.D. Salinger Literary Trust is expected to publish several of Salinger's stories by 2020, including an anthology of his Glass stories entitled The Family Glass, according to Time.
You can purchase a copy of Three Early Stories on Amazon, here.