Posted on 06/22/2024 2:08:31 PM PDT by DFG
The 1951 J.D. Salinger novel The Catcher in the Rye has long been one of the most controversial literary tomes, inspiring films and criminal conspiracies. John Lennon’s murderer, Marc David Chapman, carried the book at the murder and continued reading it while Lennon lay bleeding at his feet. He has said that he wished to model his life after the novel's protagonist, Holden Caulfield, identifying with Holden’s misanthropic world view.
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There have been numerous books, podcasts, and lectures positing even more outlandish schemes emanating from the pen of Jerome David Salinger. One of the most amusing was a three part video on YouTube showing the hidden ‘Catcher’ symbols in Stanley Kubrick’s film The Shining.
When I was 16, I read The Catcher in the Rye and loved it for all the wrong reasons. After a discussion about the book with my husband who wasn’t a fan, I decided to reread it as an adult and found it overwhelmingly relevant to today and understood finally why it’s a classic.
As a teenager, I could not identify with the protagonist, Holden Caulfield, and his angst-driven search for life’s answers. I was in my 12th year of an all-girls Catholic education and had all the tools I needed to deal with trauma and the vicissitudes of urban strife. Poor Holden had nothing to stop his depression and painful search for relevance in his scary impending adulthood. What we did have in common was the fact that we were native New Yorkers and what I loved about Catcher was the description of Holden’s trek into the Manhattan sites I had also escaped to from life in the barrio. I lived in the museums of Art and Natural History. I rode the carousel in my beloved playground of Central Park.
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
I think what really helped me appreciate it was a better understanding of culture and historical context.
As a young person, I couldn’t get my head back into the mid-Twenties. Just could not relate to it. Didn’t understand it. But once I knew more about that era (not what they teach you in school, but the semi-unique culture of the Roaring Twenties, the focus on money, class, excess, partying, all that) I could visualize it better.
But just as important to me, was the understanding of human nature that came to me via life experiences that I simply never had as a kid in school. I was able to clearly see the archetypes in the characters presented, and to see comparisons to people I had encountered in my own life. Again, as a kid, I just didn’t have that.
My experience was exactly the same. Why all the hoopla? And Salinger himself was quite the SOB.
I had to read Catcher in high school...could not remember the story...so decided to read it again this past winter. No wonder I could not remember it. I decided I am too old to waste my time on books like that. Will have to look at Gatsby.
The following quote from Faulkner has always influenced my attempts to find hidden meanings in the works of famous authors:
They—they read into my stories lots of things which I myself didn't know were there...source
I agree.
Nooooooo! Not Gatsby! All but gibberish. Read the Cliff Notes and leave it at that
I was trying to imitate the voice of Holden Caulfield. I don’t think it went over very well, really.
So a 70 something should not waste her time?
Understood (now - lol)
I liked it, I also liked “Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me”.
My recommendation is “no”
I read constantly when I was a kid. I read ‘Catcher in the Rye’ in Jr High. Eh. Never read it again. I used to reread books I liked. I read Little Women 7 times, plus I’ve read all the subsequent books I could find at library at least once. The
A generation of English teachers loved it more than it deserved to be loved, but it’s certainly not worthless.
I don’t think the people Holden saw as “phonies” were really that. They had a different script and were playing a different role than Holden was.
But I do think that most politicians are phonies. Their scripts are too different from those of the people who elected them. They aren’t accountable to the voters as they ought to be, and aren’t accountable the truth either.
I read Catcher in the Rye in high school and thought it was stupid. I read it again more recently, and my opinion hasn’t changed. The only thing we had to read that was even more painful was Death of a Salesman.
People on ‘ludes shouldn’t write novels and plays.
Mel Gibson made a movie years ago called “Conspiracy Theory,” in which he played an assassin that escaped from an MK Ultra-like government program. As part of their conditioning, they were compelled to purchase a copy of “ The Catcher in the Rye” whenever they saw one in a bookstore
The American version wouldn't work.
One book I never read nor cared to read, anymore than I wanted to read anything by James Joyce, William Faulkner or Henry Miller.
He wasn’t a phony singer/songwriter by any stretch of the imagination.
Given the chronic massive amounts of falsehood from virtually any media source, i would think that unless you knew John Lennon personally, you wouldn’t have any honest opinion about him whatsoever.
The book was assigned reading in our high school. I read it in one night. I couldn’t put it down. Now, I can’t even remember the storyline. I vaguely remember the protagonist had a cynical worldview, which is probably why my 16-year-old self enjoyed the book.
Ohhhh. Ok, then I have some culpability here. I’ve never read it. Also not Lord of the Rings, Hobbits, or any Harry Potter book.
I wonder how many referenced go right by me.
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