Early Stories (Scholastic Edition)

A young and ambitious writer named Jerome David Salinger set his goals very high at the very outset of his career. He almost desperately wished to publish his early stories in The New Yorker magazine, which he considered the pinnacle of America's literary world. However, this was not to be for several long years, spanning the length of one long world war. The New Yorker, known for its notoriously prim and fickle tastes in literary matters, was not quite ready for this brash and over-confident newcomer with his cynical worldview and habit of slangy dialogue.

Other magazines, nonetheless, were quick to recognize Salinger's new talent and fresh voice, at a time when the world verged on madness. Story magazine, an esteemed and influential small circulation journal devoted exclusively to the art of the short story and still active and respected today, was the first publication to publish Salinger's work, featuring the story "The Young Folks" in 1940. This impressive story offered a view of New York's cocktail society and two young people talking past one another, their conversation almost completely meaningless and empty.

Salinger's next short story, "Go See Eddie," was published in 1940 in a college journal, The University of Kansas City Review. This tale of quiet menace depicted an unsavory male character gradually turning up the pressure on a young lady to see a man named Eddie. The story is notable for the backstory that is omitted, a technique that Hemingway used to great effect.

Four years later, toward the end of Salinger's war experience, saw the publication of "Once A Week Won't Kill You" in Story magazine. Ostensibly about a newly minted soldier trying to tell an aging aunt he is going off to war, some may see the story as a metaphor for preparing one's family for the possibility of wartime death.

In 2014, Devault-Graves Digital Editions published the first legitimately published book by J.D. Salinger in more than 50 years, titled Three Early Stories (Illustrated). This landmark publication in recent publishing history is of particular interest to scholars and lovers of literature, as it marks the earlier period in the development of Salinger as a published writer, taking him from his first story sale to his life-changing experiences in World War II.

This new Scholastic Edition of Three Early Stories, prepared by accomplished writer and English professor Michael Compton, includes a full study guide intended for use in high school and college classrooms. The study guide features endnotes, discussion questions, writing prompts, essays, and a Salinger timeline, providing a comprehensive resource for the exploration of these early works.

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