Wednesday, June 03, 2009

News Roundup

Here are a couple of items from the news struck me as interesting this past week:


1. Salinger sues Catcher in the Rye sequel. Well, Salinger's lawyers filed a lawsuit: "The lawsuit requests a recall of the book 60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye, which has yet to be released. It also seeks unspecified damages from its author, John David California, believed to be a pseudonym." (J.D. California? Yes, probably a pseudonym). It is interesting that
Salinger, aged 90, still has the gusto to take such legal action. I wonder what will happen when he passes away? The copyrights pass to the closest living relative and go up for renewal five years after an author's death, which means that someone could decide to reverse all of Salinger's wishes if desired. It seems unlikely that that would happen, however.

2. New Haruki Murakami book released. - in Japanese. Murakami's latest, 1Q84, was released amid great secrecy as his previous novel, Kafka on the Shore, enjoyed some controversy due to leaked plot points: "Murakami... had refused to reveal the plot of the two-volume work after criticism that leaked details about his 2002 bestseller, Kafka on the Shore, spoiled its novelty value." Adding to the mystique is the play on words in the title, as the letter "Q" in English sounds very similar to the number 9 in Japanese, leaving the opening for the reference to Orwell's 1984. It is not known when the book will be translated into English. Read the full article here.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Oooh I really really hope they translate the Murakami book. I can't wait to read it!

Garry said...

Yes, it is certainly getting a lot of attention. The other day on Look! they called it "Murakami's 2666" - should be a doozy. I wonder if it would be quicker to learn Japanese?