Catcher In The Rye was published in 1951, following which its author J.D. Salinger withdrew from all public life and since then has almost disappeared. Catch 22 was published in 1961 and there were strong claims that Joseph Heller, keeping the quality of his previous works in mind and his general persona, was incapable of writing a novel of the quality of Catch 22.
Claire Douglas, Salinger’s wife says, “I was shocked when I read Catch 22. He (Salinger) had been working on something that must have been very very similar. I can’t be sure because he never let anyone see what he was writing but from what he had said about his work, I am certain that it (Salinger’s work) must have been something on the same lines”.
Apart from the fact that when Catch 22 was released almost everyone who read it agreed that – it could very well have been Salinger’s follow up of Catcher In The Rye; there were a lot of unofficial reports that Catch 22 was not Heller’s original work. His close friend, Matthew Ponty, said the following in 1971 to a local reporter – “I am quite sure Joseph was receiving mails regularly from some address in Cornish,
Cornish,
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Around
Source – wikipedia
+ Yoko Ono was believed to be seen with Lennon all throughout after 5 p.m., from when they left Dakota till the time when Ono went inside after opening the inner door, following which Lennon was shot and killed. How ever the house keeper, with whom even the murderer had a chat, and who was assigned the duty to take care of Lennon’s son had reported that he was instructed the Lennon’s to strictly not go to the upper level of the house and neither let the child go there, which was quite strange because there was no one in the house, or at least no was supposed to be, after the Lennon’s had left. The housekeeper was sure that he had heard noises coming from the upper level but since was told not to bother he didn’t check it but he swears that he saw Ono’s reflections on one of the windows from the upper level, two hours after she was supposed to have left with Lennon.
+ Fans like Robin Upton, Karl Portman and Jacky Andrews who had been following the Lennon’s all around the globe and were loyal fans all have reported that they noted something strange in Ono’s behavior and more importantly her appearance when they stopped the Lennon’s for autographs. Jacky says, “It was not Ono, it just couldn’t have been her. I mean all of us knew how she looked. That woman looked very similar but definitely she was not Ono”. Some fans even near the studio noted something strange about Ono, or at least who they thought was Ono.
+ As I had mentioned earlier Ono went inside the house when Lennon was still outside, he was then called upon by Chapman and shot. Sources present there, including the housekeeper say that it was only after around ten minutes had past since the last shots were fired at Lennon and only when he had fallen on the ground did Ono emerge from within the house. Ten whole minutes after the shots were fired!
+ The most intriguing factor is the least established one here. A storekeeper near Lennon’s residence had, he said, seen Ono talking to Chapman a few meters away from the Lennon’s residence a day before the incident. The conversation, he had added, was concluded with Ono handing over a packet to Chapman.
These, I do not believe are anywhere near conclusive and pose more questions that they answer. For example, if it is to be believed that Ono actually stayed in house and someone else accompanied Lennon, then there can be no doubt that Lennon would have come to no of this. How come then he kept quite? Was he involved in same way in his own death? A lot of conclusions can be drawn and much of what has been mentioned might be brushed aside and proved wrong. However the point is that there appears to a point of view that is different from the point of view that is generally perpetuated and it is definitely worth investigating. Of course none of this is official.
