Author Maynard discusses life, book, relationship with Salinger

Author Joyce Maynard has been called a "leech woman" and an "aging nymphet" by critics, and her recent memoirs have been described by The Washington Post as "the worst book ever published." The controversial writer, most famous for disclosing the details of her relationship with legendarily reclusive author J.D. Salinger, gave a talk entitled "Forbidden Storytelling" at Kelly Writers House last night. During the talk, Maynard explained why her memoirs, entitled At Home With the World, might be the most misunderstood work this century. "The thing is, when I speak, everybody in the audience has heard about my book, but nobody has ever read it," Maynard said. In 1972, at age 18, Maynard left Yale University to move in with the 52-year-old Salinger in small-town Cornish, N.H. Salinger, author of the ubiquitous novel Catcher in the Rye, wrote to Maynard after she published an article entitled "An Eighteen-Year-Old Looks Back on Life" in The New York Times Magazine. A correspondence ensued, and Maynard believed she had found her "kindred spirit." After eight months living in Cornish, however, their relationship soured, and Maynard was forced to leave Salinger's home disillusioned and alone. The scope of At Home in the World, which Maynard read from in her talk, reaches far beyond her experience with Salinger. "It's not a book about Salinger -- it's a book about me," she said. "Salinger just happened to choose to enter my life." The account of Maynard's life weaves a rich tale describing her struggles with an ambitious but artistically frustrated mother, an alcoholic father and her own eating disorders. Her greatest dream was to leave the small-town New Hampshire of her childhood to become a famous movie star in New York City. However, inadvertently, Maynard's greatest claim to fame came as a result of her decision to reveal details about Salinger, who is widely known as the most private celebrity in America. Many critics, protective of Salinger and his legacy, condemned Maynard's choice to break the wall of silence about Salinger. She was further criticized when she handed over 40 pages of letters written by Salinger for sale at an auction at Sotheby's last spring. The letters were sold to Peter Norton, founder of Norton Utilities, who returned them to Salinger. Maynard explained that her decision to write her memoirs was made when her own daughter turned 18, and was not an act of vengeance towards Salinger. "I felt the experience of my own 18-year-old self exploding in my face," she said. "All those years I had believed that Salinger was the wisest, the best and the purest of men, and I had protected him. All of a sudden, I wanted to be protective of the young girl [inside me] he had hurt." As for the letters, Maynard defended her action by explaining that she needed the money to pay for her three children's college educations. "I have no moral or ethical problem with what I did. I do not have the luxury as Salinger does, to live off the royalties of a book published in 1951," Maynard said. Maynard said she will donate photocopies of the letters to the Library of Congress after Salinger's death and added that she regrets that the letters were not sold at the auction to a university like Penn so students could have access to them. The audience reacted favorably to Maynard's enthusiastic speaking style and to the candid discussion of her life's challenges and successes. "I was impressed by just how bitter and nasty Salinger seemed," College freshman Paul Flynn said. "I think Maynard seemed to be honest. I had read some of the reviews of her book and I don't think they were being fair to her.