Salinger’s phony ban of Coming Through the Rye
The banning of 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye by J.D. California reflects very badly on J.D. Salinger (not that he cares). This unauthorized sequel of The Catcher in the Rye is a bad book and would have sunk like a stone without any legal intervention. The big-hitting literary critics would have savaged it – they’d have done Salinger’s dirty work for free and probably in a very entertaining way. Most readers would have ignored it. The book is harmless but rubbish. Banning books is never a good thing and being a bad book is not a crime.
I’m sure Coming Through the Rye IS a sorry attempt to cash in on the fame of Catcher in the Rye but is that illegal, especially in America where cashing in is a way of life? The actual author, a Swede called Fredrik Colting, will probably keep pushing to get his book published because the publicity surrounding the book will make his efforts worthwhile. The curiosity factor surrounding this book is now very high, and all because America’s No.1 recluse went through the courts. In the meantime, the book has been published in Sweden and the UK. In today’s world of global bookselling, people will get their hands on copies so this storm in a tea cup will continue.
I believe Salinger lost control of his famous creation, Holden Caulfield, four decades ago. Holden Caulfield, the world’s first alienated teenager, became public property when Catcher in the Rye became required reading for all readers, and that happened a long time ago. How can some badly written book by a bloke from Sweden remotely damage the legacy of Salinger and his famous novel from 1951?
Without knowing anything about the author of this piece (maybe he/she’s published a widely read, highly influential piece of classic literature?] & without any firsthand knowledge of what they were actually trying to accomplish by trashing Salinger’s right to protect his copyrighted material, I think this piece reflects a huge divide between the average writer’s infatuation w/ the internet, blogging, instantaneous access to the public, & dedicating your life to creating & pursuing the vision of that creationover a the length of a generation. Anybody with a computer & an internet hook up claims to be a writer, everybody w/ a point & shoot digital camera is a professional photographer. Everybody w/ Photoshop is a graphic artist & everybody w/ a great subplot for an unwritten, unfinished chapter to add to the latest trendiest Tween fantasy series deserves to be held in the same light as the iriginator’s of the series, the people that worked & bled for years to see their projects come to fruition. Keep your ideas secluded to fanfiction sites, all your little buddies will appreciate getting first crack at reading the new rehashed B.S. & agree with you wholeheartedly: Yes, there is a conspiracy…& can you believe it?? There’s a gestapo in the U.S. & my god, they’re banning books!!
An interesting but insane perspective
insane would be not protecting his (Salinger’s) material. Everybody (not you) was calling for this to be canceled/killed (Guardian May 14, Guardian 31, for starters…) & now he’s phony for doing just that. Lesson 1: Never claim your beliefs so that no matter how story works out, you can attack or praise depending on what the majority of people are doing. If you do, act out or claim the opposite, you’ll be shocking & original. Drive up your readership. Get a response.
Otherwise, good piece.
I know my spelling’s rough there, how embarrassing!
Salinger’s reputation was made on his own merits. His book became famous on its own merits. When a hack wannabe attempts a copycat piece, that represents little more than a parasitical exploitation of ORIGINAL talent.
….and Salinger had not only the right to protect his reputation, but the duty to protect the book’s.