In Ten Days We May Have a Sequel to the Catcher in the Rye

Holden Caulfield has at least ten more days of youth before he may be launched into old age.

According to the New York Times, a federal judge in Manhattan has ruled that a new version of J. D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye" cannot be published in the United States for at least ten days while she weighs a lawsuit issued by Salinger.

Salinger's lawyers claim that the novel, titled "60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye," is "a rip-off pure and simple." As the New York Daily News reported last week, the book, written by an anonymous author with the pen name JD California, features Holden Caulfield, the narrator of the original book, in a retirement home in Upstate New York.

"This is a case where a sequel has been created without the author's permission," Salinger's lawyer, Marcia Paul, told the judge in arguments before her ruling, according to Reuters.

Paul added that the crux of the case was Salinger's right as the author to keep Caulfield "frozen" as he was in the classic work. The defense argues that Salinger's work should not be a special case and is really part of the public domain since Caulfield is such a well-known character.

Now, it's up to the judge to decide, while the world waits.