Judge blocks publication of Salinger spinoff book

NEW YORK — A federal judge ruled Wednesday 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 1951 novel “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. 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.

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.

The ruling by Judge Batts was a temporary order meant to remain in place until the full facts of the case could be aired at a later trial. She said that Salinger was likely to succeed on the merits of his lawsuit and that he would face irreparable harm if the new book was allowed to be published in the United States.