Salinger--Overly Protective Literary Parent or Litigious Recluse? You Decide

In a strange legal twist, J.D. Salinger the author of (arguably) the most read book by babyboom generation The Catcher in the Rye has now successfully challenged an effort to censor a So called sequel to the book. The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) explains
that the new work is entitled 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, and "depicts Holden as Mr. C., an irascible 76-year-old still spouting the same vitriol about "godamn phonies" and nursing the same distrust of the world around him. But this is not a sequel penned by Mr. Salinger, now 90, whose last published work appeared in June 1965. And if the author, a Swedish publisher named Fredrik Colting, is to be believed, it is not a sequel to the original. Rather, he maintains that the book is "literary commentary on 'Catcher' and the relationship between Holden and Salinger." To that end, a fictive Salinger makes an appearance as a character in "60 Years Later."

The judge ruled in Salinger's favor --disagreeing with the defense position that the Swedish author was attempting a work of literary criticism and upholding Salinger's attorneys who argued that Holden's character was "copyrightable."

"..literary critique in the form of a novel is not unheard of. Jean Rhys's "Wide Sargasso Sea" retells "Jane Eyre" from the point of view of Bertha, the madwoman in the attic. Rita Copeland, a comparative literature professor at the University of Pennsylvania, calls it "a deep exploration of the political, social and racial issues that underlie Charlotte Brontë's novel. Of course Rhys' book is a great novel, but it's also an important 'reading' of 'Jane Eyre,' of the Caribbean side of the story in Brontë's novel and of the European relationship to the West Indies."

The ruling seems bizarre and will likely be overturned on appeal--(if of course Mr Colting has the funds to appeal) since there is no question that Salinger owns Caulfied in the way that Shakespeare owns Macbeth and Hamlet--only that author could have created the actual character and only his rendering is authentic. Colting has not disguised the fact that he is writing the story not Salinger. But the counter logic would suggest that since no one but Disney can market Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck in the verbal realm--Salinger's rights are akin to those of Disneys. But we are hitting here the limits of the legal imagination that can make a distinction between marketable Mickey Mouse and not so marketable Holden Caulfield.

But the more important lesson from this is perhaps the way that Salinger sees himself at this point in time. The WSJ characterizes his posture well:

"Mr. Salinger is notorious for his protection of his creations. He has denied movie directors the rights to option "Catcher" and turned down licensing deals that could have turned Holden Caulfield into a mass-marketing bonanza. We should add he bitterly fought British author Ian Hamilton from publishing his biography."

According to the WSJ "60 Years Later" mostly centers on Mr. C. (70% of the book is devoted to him) and includes only a few snippets of the Salinger character; the climax of the interaction is sketched out in one of the final chapters. Without Mr. C., the book could not exist. Without Salinger, it still paints a vivid portrait of how Holden stayed huddled in his cocoon and remained a boy in a man's body."

Is Holden really Salinger? I guess we will have to read the book to find out...