J.D. Salinger's final wish.

• Author: Klosterman, Chuck
• Position: The Ethicist - Short stories that leaked online - Brief article

Three of the late J.D. Salinger's unpublished short stories were recently leaked online. While I'm tempted to read them, I know that Salinger wanted these stories published 50 years after his death, which would be around 2060. Is it unethical to take a peek now?

Daniel Chang, Hightstown, N.J.

I THINK SALINGER'S DESIRE to embargo his own work is deeply cool, though not particularly reasonable. If he had never wanted his unpublished work to be seen by anyone, ever, then his wish should be granted.

But here we're talking about someone who is one of the most culturally significant American fiction writers of the past 100 years. We're also talking about someone who's already dead, and whose...