Only 70 more years until Catcher in the Rye hits public domain!

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by AprilHare

Actually, at the risk of sounding callous, him being dead increases the chances of anything new from him being published.
In life he sure as hell wasn't going to let anything new be published. (We're talking about a timeframe of decades of self-imposed seclusion here.)

Well, I figured he wouldn't let anything be published in life, but I sort of assumed that he had put something in his will about his writings that would protect them after his death (although I guess he might not have cared about it after that point).

[Krystian Galaj]

Wouldn't it be easiest for him to destroy them at some point before he died?

[bhartman36]

Originally Posted by Krystian Galaj

Wouldn't it be easiest for him to destroy them at some point before he died?

If he didn't want to have them published, and that's all he cared about, I guess you'd be right. It's also possible, though, that he wanted them to be preserved but still not published.

[AprilHare]

Originally Posted by bhartman36

Well, I figured he wouldn't let anything be published in life, but I sort of assumed that he had put something in his will about his writings that would protect them after his death (although I guess he might not have cared about it after that point).

He wasn't against publishing his works. He was against the intrusion of publishing. He knew that would be no longer an issue after his death. Apparently he even marked some of his manuscripts as being suitable for publishing. He just did not want to deal with publishers while alive.

Originally Posted by Krystian Galaj

Wouldn't it be easiest for him to destroy them at some point before he died?

Yes that would have been easiest. Salinger was not the slightest bit famous for doing things the easiest way.

Originally Posted by bhartman36

If he didn't want to have them published, and that's all he cared about, I guess you'd be right. It's also possible, though, that he wanted them to be preserved but still not published.

As someone wrote in articles regarding his death, writers write to be read. They don't necessarily care when they're read, though. He'd be fine with post mortem publication of his work IMHO.