The Catcher in the Rye
The Catcher in the Rye
Holden Caulfield said out loud what a million teenagers were feeling but could not name. Some books belong to you completely.
Holden's Weekend
J.D. Salinger's 1951 novel is narrated by sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield, who has just been expelled from his fourth school and spends three days wandering New York City before facing his parents. In that time he visits bars, hires a prostitute, calls old friends, and delivers a relentless, funny, heartbroken commentary on the phoniness of the adult world. The novel was immediately controversial and became the defining book of adolescent alienation. Despite being banned in numerous schools and libraries, it has sold over 65 million copies worldwide.
Reading The Catcher in the Rye
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"Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody.
"J.D. Salinger · The Catcher in the Rye
Salinger published the novel in 1951 and then essentially disappeared from public life. He gave almost no interviews for the rest of his life and refused all requests for adaptations. He died in 2010, still a recluse.
The novel was carried by John Lennon's killer Mark David Chapman at the time of the murder in 1980 and also found in the possession of Reagan's would-be assassin in 1981. It sparked decades of debate about literature and influence.