J.D. Salinger Typed Letter Signed to Publishers about "Franny and Zooey," May 27, 1961

A revealing letter signed by J.D. Salinger, all relating to the impending publication of Franny and Zooey. Salinger wrote this letter just over a month before Franny and Zooey was published, as he received the corrected proofs. 1 page, typed and signed in his hand in full, "J.D. Salinger" to his publisher. In it, he attempts to convince Little, Brown that the most authentic running heads for "Franny" and "Zooey," would be with the individual titles, rather than the full Franny and Zooey. He argues in true Salinger fashion, "I really can't see, at all, why an appropriate running head for a short story need appear to be anything except what it is." In 1955 and 1957, "Franny" and then "Zooey," two stories about the youngest members of the Glass family, were released separately in the New Yorker. In July of 1961 they became the two-part book, Franny and Zooey. Through the publication process, Salinger fought to keep creative control. Since Little, Brown first championed Salinger's artistic vision ten years earlier by publishing The Catcher in the Rye, the author placed his faith in them. However, as he writes here, Little-Brown's general approach in this affair of the Running Heads "doesn't exactly inspire confidence." Their competing visions did not always mesh. He writes, "I find all the suggested aesthetic reasons" for running Franny and Zooey as a head over the story FRANNY "very hard to take." Salinger relentlessly pursued authenticity. As he explains to Miss Rackliffe, the stories must have their appropriate title, rather than bowing to an incorrect one for aesthetic reasons: "Your department now agrees that Franny is the appropriate running head for the story FRANNY, and that Zooey is the appropriate one for the story ZOOEY, but I gather you all feel that those single short titles drags the page badly or unnicely." However, he discourages the "drastic remedy" of "[e]ntirely deleting the running heads." He goes on to reference Nine Stories, which Little-Brown published. "Surely the word Teddy looks perfectly reasonable carried as a running head. It just is what it is: the title of the story." Comes with envelope. An important Salinger letter that shows how he tried to protect his literary integrity throughout the publication process.