Re: The New Yorker Snubs Catcher
Colin (colin@cpink.demon.co.uk)
Fri, 17 Sep 1999 11:04:14 +0100
In message <000101bf0077$21b0b400$7b0c173f@oemcomputer>, citycabn
<citycabn@gateway.net> writes
>...Salinger instructed Olding to submit The Catcher in the Rye in manuscript
>form to the New Yorker [American and British book deals were already lined
>up]. ...Salinger hoped the magazine would publish excerpts....
>Astonishingly the editors did not like the novel and refused to publish any
>excerpts. On Jan. 25, 1951, Lobrano wrote to Salinger to smooth over hurt
>feelings since S. was irate about the magazine's decision. At least two
>editors had read the novel, Lobrano said, and their main problems with the
>book were simple. They did not believe the two sibling relationships
>(Phoebe-Holden and Allie-D.B.) were "tenable"; those relationships were too
>similar. [Huh?] What's more, Lobrano himself, or so he said, felt S. was not
>ready to write the novel; to him, S. seemed "imprisoned" by the novel's mood
>and scenes.
Speaking as a writer who regularly gets buried under rejections I have
to say it is refreshing to learn that even JDS in his prime got stuff
rejected by the New Yorker. (I was astonished to hear they rejected
'DDS Blue Period', too!) It just goes to show the people in the trade
tend mostly only to know what has already gone down well, not what will
go down well in the future. Presented with anything fresh or new they
don't know what to make of it. And how prosaic these peoples'
objections seem in comparison to the shining beauty of the work they are
(mis)judging.
--
Colin