Simon & Schuster will publish The Private War of J.D. Salinger by David Shields and Shane Salerno in September, an oral biography of the great author that is guarded by “elaborate security.”

Salerno directed a documentary about the author that will air on American Masters in January 2014. The publisher negotiated the deal with Salerno and senior editor Jofie Ferrari-Adler will edit. Both publisher Jonathan Karp and Ferrari-Adler had sought to acquire the book for a few years.

Here’s more about the book, from the release: “The project has been the subject of much speculation since a 2010 Newsweek story, ‘Salinger Like You’ve Never Seen Him,‘ about the work-in-progress. Entertainment Weekly reported on the elaborate security surrounding the project … Salerno has been interviewing colleagues and intimates of Salinger since 2004. Since then, he and co-author David Shields have been shaping the interviews into an oral biography, which will be accompanied by never-before-seen photos of Salinger.”

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Today the Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB) launched LARB ePubs, a biweekly eBook series that will republish essays from the review’s growing archive that already counts 150 literary essays.

The individual issues will be sold at Amazon and the literary journal’s store for $4.99.

Here’s more about the series: “LARB ePubs will feature book reviews and cultural essays by prominent writers such as David Shields, Barbara Ehrenreich, Michael Tolkin, and others, delivering LARB’s exceptional content in a format that is tailored to the e-reader platform … LARB ePubs is part of an industry trend towards making long-form journalistic content available for e-publication.”

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This week Newsweek unveiled a never-before-seen photo of the famous J.D. Salinger. The photo was provided by Hollywood director, Shane Salerno. According to the article, Salerno is teaming up with David Shields to co-write an 800-page biography titled, The Private War of J. D. Salinger.

In addition, Salerno has funded, written, and directed a two-hour documentary titled Salinger, due out on September 24th 2010. Famous names involved with the film project include journalist/author Tom Wolfe, biographer A. Scott Berg, and Oscar winner Philip Seymour Hoffman.

Salinger, who passed away in January of this year, was known for his highly reclusive nature. From ages 46-91, he was largely out of the limelight despite the overwhelming public desire for him to do just the opposite. Catherine Crawford’s 2006 title, If You Really Want to Hear About It: Writers on J. D. Salinger and His Work states that, “[readers] of his work and students from nearby Dartmouth College often came to Cornish in groups, hoping to catch a glimpse of him.” Such a personality invites incredible mystery, especially when you are the mastermind behind a hit like The Catcher in the Rye.

To further tease Salinger enthusiasts, Newsweek offers this quote about the filmmaker: “[Salerno] has spent six years and millions of dollars researching the author’s mysterious world –though the details, such as the story behind this photo, he won’t divulge just yet. Like Franny Glass, who clung to her copy of The Way of a Pilgrim as a kind of dog-eared talisman, Salerno has a spiritual relationship with Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye. He also has rules. ‘Do not read J. D. Salinger on a Kindle,’ he says, with a snort of disgust. ‘Grab that broken paperback.’”

Among literary critics and authors, plagiarism has been a perpetual debate in the 21st Century–we’ve reported on many, many stories over the years.GalleyCat Reviews covered the On Copyright 2010 conference yesterday, the many speakers focused on the crucial difference between remixing original content and plagiarism.

Author David Shields read an excerpt from his book Reality Hunger: A Manifesto: “This book contains hundreds of quotations that go unacknowledged in the body of the text. I’m trying to regain a freedom that writers from Montaigne to Burroughs took for granted and that we have lost … However, Random House lawyers determined that it was necessary for me to provide a complete list of citations for these quotations; the list follows (except, of course, for any sources I couldn’t find or forgot along the way).”

Not everyone agrees. The Book Bench has a round up of Reality Hunger reviews, remixing both critics and champions of the book. What do you think?

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