Editing Hapworth 16, 1924 (section)

==Publishing history==
The circumstances and considerations that led chief fiction editor [[William Shawn]] at ''The New Yorker'' to devote virtually the entire June 19, 1965, edition to "Hapworth 16, 1924" are obscure.<ref>Slawenski, 2010 p. 363</ref> Biographer Kenneth Slawenki writes, "the files of ''The New Yorker'' are unusually silent on the details of the novella's reception by the editorial staff and its eventual reception by William Shawn."<ref>Slawenski, 2010 p. 363-364</ref> The correspondence between Salinger and Shawn chronicling the decision may have been deliberately suppressed.<ref>Slawenski, 2010 p. 363n (see footnote).</ref> Slawenski speculates that the appearance of Salinger's piece in the journal was "a ''fait accompli'' rather than a topic of debate".<ref>Slawenski, 2010 p. 364: see here for comments on the “reluctant” of staff to challenge the work.</ref>

After the story's appearance in ''The New Yorker'', Salinger—who had already withdrawn to his New Hampshire home—stopped publishing altogether. Since the story never appeared in book form, readers had to seek out that issue or find it on microfilm. Finally, with the release of ''The Complete New Yorker'' on DVD in 2005, the story was once again widely available.

In 1996, Orchises Press, a small Virginia publishing house, started a process of publishing "Hapworth" in book form. Orchises Press owner Roger Lathbury has described the effort in ''[[The Washington Post]]'' and, three months after Salinger's death, in ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]]'' magazine''.''<ref name="Lathbury"/><ref name="Shapira">Shapira (2010)</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://nymag.com/arts/books/features/65210/index1.html|title=Betraying Salinger|last=Lathbury|first=Roger|date=12 April 2010|website=nymag.com|publisher=New York Media, LLC|access-date=22 May 2010|quote=I scored the publishing coup of the decade: his final book. And then I blew it.}}</ref> According to Lathbury, Salinger was deeply concerned with the proposed book's appearance, even visiting Washington to examine the cloth for the binding. Salinger also sent Lathbury numerous "infectious and delightful and loving" letters.<ref name="Shapira"/>

Following publishing norms, Lathbury applied for [[Library of Congress]] [[Cataloging in Publication]] data, unaware of how publicly available the information would be. A writer in Seattle, researching an article on [[Jeff Bezos]], came across the "Hapworth" publication date,<ref>Lundegaard (2010)</ref> and told his sister, a journalist for the ''[[Washington Business Journal]]'', who wrote an article about the upcoming book.<ref>Lundegaard (1996)</ref> This led to substantial coverage in the press. Shortly before the books were to be shipped, Salinger changed his mind, and Orchises withdrew the book. New publication dates were repeatedly announced, but it never appeared.<ref>Noah (2000)</ref> Lathbury said, "I never reached back out. I thought about writing some letters, but it wouldn't have done any good."<ref name="Shapira" />