Feb. 14, 1963 - Just in case those who are following the chronicles of the Glass family have missed the news, two more J.D. Salinger stories have been joined together and printed in book form: “Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters & Seymour: An Introduction” (Little, Brown: $4). Salinger (pictured in 1952), in a press release, explained his purpose. “The two long pieces in this book originally came out in The New Yorker — the first in 1955, the second, 1959. Whatever their differences in mood or effect, they are both very much concerned with Seymour Glass, who is the main character in my still-uncompleted series about the Glass family. There is only my word for it, granted, but I have several new Glass stories coming along — waxing, dilating — each in its own way, but I suspect the less said about them in mixed company the better. Oddly, the joys and satisfaction of working on the Glass family peculiarly increase and deepen for me with the years. I can’t say why, though. Not, at least, outside the casino proper of my fiction.” The Seymour Glass character was first introduced in the 1948 short story, “A Perfect Day for Bananafish,” published in The New Yorker. At the conclusion of that story, he commits suicide.
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