Judge blocks publication of Salinger spinoff book
NEW YORK (AP) — A federal judge ruled yesterday that a Swedish author cannot publish in the United States a book he wrote that was advertised as a sequel to J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher In The Rye."
U.S. District Judge Deborah Batts issued her ruling in Manhattan after hearing arguments in a lawsuit brought by the 90-year-old reclusive author against the publishers of "60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye."
Batts said Swedish author Fredrik Colting's claim that he wrote the new book to critically examine Salinger's most famous character, Holden Caulfield, was "problematic and lacking in credibility."
She also rejected arguments that a character in Colting's book that was meant to represent Caulfield 60 years later was a parody.
"The court finds that '60 Years' contains no reasonably perceived parodic character as to 'Catcher' and Holden Caulfield," Batts wrote.
She said in a footnote that Colting and his publishers made no indication before the lawsuit was filed that the book was meant as a parody or critique of Salinger's work.
"Quite to the contrary, the original jacket of '60 Years' states that it is '... a marvelous sequel to one of our most beloved classics,"' the judge noted.
A message seeking comment from an attorney for Colting was not immediately returned.
The book was scheduled to be published in the United States late this summer, but the publication was challenged by lawyers for Salinger, of Cornish, N.H., who did not attend arguments in the case last month.
During last month's hearing, Batts said she read both novels and agreed with Salinger that the new book was substantially similar to his own, published in 1951.
"The Catcher In The Rye," which has sold more than 35 million copies, tells what happens to the 16-year-old Caulfield for several days immediately after he is kicked out of a prep school just before Christmas and decides to explore New York City before returning to his family home.
