The life and work of J.D. Salinger continues to be mysterious, even after his death. Three new stories from the reclusive late author have reportedly been leaked online, after an eBay auction suddenly appeared, selling off an invitation-only link to a file sharing site that contained the writings. Whomever acquired and auctioned off the works sold them in the form of a PDF scan of a self-published book, called Three Stories. The origins of the writings are still unknown, though the uploader said the book was a copy of one of 25 made in London back 1999—the winning bid was just $107.
One of the three stories, titled “The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls”, serves as a prequel to his famous novel The Catcher in the Rye. It had been previously only available at the Princeton library, and could only be read under the supervision of scholars. In his will, Salinger had specified that the story not be published before the year 2060. According to a scholar who has read the now-leaked text, it’s no phonie. He told Buzzfeed, “While I do quibble with the ethics (or lack of ethics) in posting the Salinger stories, they look to be true transcripts of the originals and match my own copies” …
