Unpublished J. D. Salinger Stories Leaked On Bittorrent Site

192_kbps writes "Catcher in the Rye author J. D. Salinger wrote the short story The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls and left depository copies with a few academic libraries with the understanding that the work would not see mass distribution until the mid-21st century. The only authorized place to read the story is in a special reading room at Princeton where electronics are not allowed and a librarian continuously babysits the reader. A PDF of the story, as well as two other unpublished stories, appeared on private bittorrent site what.cd where a huge bounty had been placed for the work. Incredibly, the uploader (or someone connected to the uploader) bought an unauthorized copy on eBay for a pittance. The file, Three Stories, is making the bittorrent rounds but can also be read on mediafire."

Comments

Overrated

[dargaud]

As a foreigner, I'd never heard of Salinger or Catcher in the Rye. When I first made it to the US, my friend gave me the book: "You HAVE to read that". I was underwhelmed and to this day still do not understand what all the fuss is about. A story about a whiney teenager with too much money for his own good ? This describe America pretty well to me !!!

Re:Overrated

[Quimo]

Read some other novels from the 1950's and you will see how different it is from other books of the time. Yes compared to current novels it is somewhat underwhelming but compared to its contemporaries it is something completely new.

Re:Overrated

[Anonymous Coward]

I am a foreigner too, and I read it in Russia soon after USSR fall, and I knew about this book years earlier, just could not obtain it.

After that, I read everything I could get by Salinger. Original book was stolen from me by fellow college mate, who was afraid he won't be able to obtain it otherwise (years later, we both laughed about it).

This book is fascinating, man. And if you do not understand why - do not worry. Some people never get what is so special about Van Gogh either, so you are not unique.

Personally, I think in the same vein as computer literacy, one can develop his taste just by doing things repeatedly. So, read more. And if you think you read too much already, then quadruple the number.

Re:Overrated

[PolygamousRanchKid]

Personally, I think Salinger's best, and most accessible, work is "Nine Stories". Have a go at that, if you are interested. How can you resist such titles as, "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" and "For Esmé – with Love and Squalor" . . . ?

A story about a whiney teenager with too much money for his own good ?

A lot of famous literary works can be summed up in simple sentences:

• "Romeo and Juliet" - Kids from the wrong families want to get married, and things go terribly wrong.
• "The Da Vinci Code" - People solve puzzles and find stuff.
• "Crime and Punishment" - Guy kills a loan shark, and worries about it later.
• "The Metamorphis" - Dude turns into a cockroach, and his family freaks out.
• "Jane Eyre" - Poor chick grows up, and gets married.
• "Goethe's Faust" - Guy cuts a bad deal with the Devil.
• "The Bible" - God creates humans, and claims to be good and loving, but spends most of his time making life miserable for humans.