More Salinger

The last story J.D. Salinger published was "Hapworth 16, 1924," which appeared in The New Yorker issue dated June 19, 1965.  I read this that week on the veranda of a house in Carberry Gardens, Victoria, and regret that I did not save the magazine.  Purchased then for twenty-five cents, a copy today, if found, will bring at least $3,000.

Salinger wrote a number of stories before developing his Holden Caulfield style, and while he did not want them republished, a bootleg collection was brought out several years ago.  Of those stories, one that continues to hover around the edges of my mind, rather dream-like, is "The Inverted Forest," originally printed in Cosmopolitan (the pre-Helen Gurley Brown Cosmopolitan).  The plot is too complex to summarize, and besides, a summary would be unfair to any reader fortunate enough to find a copy. 

Okay, gotta go.  Seymour is on the phone.