After years of remaining unseen by nearly all his fans, three stories by reclusive author J.D. Salinger leaked online Wednesday.
The unpublished stories were once only available for academics to read while under guard in libraries at the University of Texas and at Princeton.
One of the stories—titled The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls—is a precursor to the Salinger classic The Catcher in the Rye.
Also leaked were Birthday Boy, about a young man in rehab for alcoholism, and Paula, which recounts the tale of a woman whose pregnancy drives her to insanity then ruins her marriage.
As per Salinger’s will, the stories weren’t to be published until 2051.
None of them have ever been published, but The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls was written for publication in Harper’s Bazaar before the author withdrew it.
The story details the death of Kenneth Caulfield, the character Salinger would later turn into Holden Caulfield’s brother Allie.
Princeton’s was once the only manuscript of The Ocean Full of Bowling Balls available to be read.
Buzzfeed spoke to a gentleman named PJ Vogt who’s read both the Princeton copy and the online version.
He verified the story’s authenticity.
‘I definitely remember that first line,’ Vogt said. ‘”His shoes turned up.” And I remember the detail about the India ink on the catcher’s mitt. And that Holden has a cameo from camp.’
But Vogt’s revelation also further deepened the mystery.
‘My memory is that Princeton’s copy looked like a submission — typed out pages, maybe even double-spaced. These seem too laid out to be from that collection,’ he said.
The author of J.D. Salinger: A Life confirmed the authenticity of all three manuscripts.
‘While I do quibble with the ethics (or lack of ethics) in posting the Salinger stories,’ Kenneth Slawenski told Buzzfeed, ‘they look to be true transcripts of the originals and match my own copies.’
The PDF first sprung up on the invite-only bit torrent site what.CD.
