Week Two - History of the novel

History of the novel

Impact on Americans

When this book was released in the 20^th century, a lot of American teenagers (more than adults or children), started to read it, and it became very popular, however, very controversial too.

Teenagers who read this novel, tend to like and relate their personal life with Holden´s. They can get very interested in the story, because it’s a much more real situation, than a classic novel. The type of talking and acting of the characters had a very strong impact on that time, because it was not common that books had this kind of language, it was something different, something trendy.

Another thing that caused that this book had such an impact in the last century and today, is the kind of topics that it handles. It is very attractive for students that sex, violence, depression and bad conducts (for example) could be the main subject for a book studied in the classroom.

I think that this book reached that popularity because it has many controversial situations, for example: it is a good or a bad influence for teenagers? Should schools teach it or not? Also, it has been said that either you LOVE this book or you HATE it, so there are no middle opinions.

To end with this, is very important to add that this novel was the inspiration and a very great influence for two famous murderers:

1.    In 1981 John Hinckley Jr. attempted to assassinate Ronald Reagan.

2.    In 1980 Mark David Chapman killed music legend John Lennon.

This also made some popularity for the book.

Book Reviews

 This book had such an impact that even today we can easily find some important reviews from 1951 about the novel! Here are some of them:

“The book as a whole is disappointing, and not merely because it is a reworking of a theme that one begins to suspect must obsess the author. Holden Caulfield, the main character who tells his own story, is an extraordinary portrait, but there is too much of him. ... 

In the course of 277 pages, the reader wearies of [his] explicitness, repetition and adolesence, exactly as one would weary of Holden himself. And this reader at least suffered from an irritated feeling that Holden was not quite so sensitive and perceptive as he, and his creator, thought he was. In any case he is so completely self-centered that the other characters who wander through the book—with the notable exception of his sister Phoebe—have nothing like his authenticity. ... In a writer of Salinger's undeniable talent, one expects something more. “

Anne L. Goodman.

Here is another review from back then:

July 16, 1951

Books of The Times

By NASH K. BURGER

THE CATCHER IN THE RYE By J. D. Salinger.

t is just before Christmas and 16-year-old Holden Caulfield has been kicked out of exclusive Pencey Prep, a boys' school in Pennsylvania. Considering everything, this reflects more credit on Holden than on Pencey. Life at Pencey is dreary, regimented, artificial and, of course, expensive. This happens, however, to be only the latest of a series of schools from which Holden has been expelled. Understandably he is in no hurry to encounter his parents, but he is also reluctant to linger a moment longer than necessary at Pencey. He therefore takes what money he has and departs for New York, where he passes several days in a weird jumble of adventures and experiences, is involved with a variety of persons including taxi drivers, two nuns, an elevator man, three girls from Seattle, a prostitute, and a former teacher from whom Holden thinks it best to flee in the middle of the night and most of all from himself.
Holden's story is told in Holden's own strange, wonderful language by J. D. Salinger in an unusually brilliant novel, "The Catcher in the Rye." The Book-of-the-Month Club has chosen it as its current selection.

Adolescence Speaking for Itself
Holden is bewildered, lonely, ludicrous and pitiful. His troubles, his failings are not of his own making but of a world that is out of joint. There is nothing wrong with him that a little understanding and affection, preferably from his parents, couldn't have set right. Though confused and unsure of himself, like most 16-year-olds, he is observant and perceptive and filled with a certain wisdom. His minor delinquencies seem minor indeed when contrasted with adult delinquencies with which he is confronted.
Mr. Salinger, whose work has appeared in The New Yorker and elsewhere, tells a story well, in this case under the special difficulties of casting it in the form of Holden's first- person narrative. This was a perilous undertaking, but one that has been successfully achieved. Mr. Salinger's rendering of teen-age speech is wonderful: the unconscious humor, the repetitions, the slang and profanity, the emphasis, all are just right. Holden's mercurial changes of mood, his stubborn refusal to admit his own sensitiveness and emotions, his cheerful disregard of what is sometimes known as reality are typically and heart breakingly adolescent.
The author evidently takes a dim view of prep-school life, and few writers have presented it with more effortless devastation. Holden's reminiscences and observations are short and to the point. "Pencey," he tells us, "was full of crooks. Quite a few guys came from these very wealthy families, but it was full of crooks anyway. The more expensive a school is, the more crooks it has. I'm not kidding." Holden is sometimes, but not for long, a little bitter, and it may be he has a tendency to generalize from too little evidence (in this case his camel's-hair coat had been stolen out of his room), but he has seen and done a lot for a 16-year-old, and a lot has been done to him. Mr. Salinger gives us a peek at Pencey's headmaster, who knows just which parents to talk with, which to ignore, gives a glimpse, too, of alumni and assorted students. Then there is a fine chapter in which Holden calls to say good-by to an ancient teacher, an unlovable Mr. Chips without wisdom or imagination.

Poignant Reflections of Youth
In New York Holden's nightmarish efforts to escape from himself by liquor, sex, night clubs, movies, sociability--anything and everything--are fruitless. Misadventure piles on misadventure, but he bears it all with a grim cheerfulness and stubborn courage. He is finally saved as a result of his meeting with his little sister Phoebe, like Holden a wonderful creation. She is the single person who supplies and just in time--the affection that Holden needs.
Certainly you'll look a long time before you'll meet another youngster like Holden Caulfield, as likable and, in spite of his failings, as sound. And though he's still not out of the woods entirely, there at the end, still we think he's going to turn out all right. We wouldn't even be surprised if he grew up to write a few books (he talks about books quite a lot), books like "Of Human Bondage," "Look Homeward, Angel," or "The Catcher in the Rye"--nothing so childish and innocent as "Seventeen," though.

A pretty good small volume of Holden's observations could be put together right now out of Mr. Salinger's book; call it "The Maxims and Moral Reflections of Holden Caulfield," say. Thus, On the Movies: "I can understand somebody going to the movies because there's nothing else to do, but when somebody really wants to go, then it depresses the hell out of me." On Life Is a Game: "If you get on the side where all the hot-shots are, then it's a game, all right. But if you get on the other side, where there aren't any hot-shots, then what's a game about it? Nothing. No game." On Teachers: "You don't have to think too hard when you talk to a teacher." On War: "I don't think I could stand it if I had to go to war. It wouldn't be so bad if they'd just take you out and shoot you, but you have to stay in the Army so * * * long."

Here´s another one from James Stern, the author of "The Man Who Was Loved," a recent collection of short stories.

July 15, 1951

Aw, the World's a Crumby Place

This girl Helga, she kills me. She reads just about everything I bring into the house, and a lot of crumby stuff besides. She's crazy about kids. I mean stories about kids. But Hel, she says there's hardly a writer alive can write about children. Only these English guys Richard Hughes and Walter de la Mare, she says. The rest is all corny. It depresses her. That's another thing. She can sniff a corny guy or a phony book quick as a dog smells a rat. This phoniness, it gives old Hel a pain if you want to know the truth. That's why she came hollering to me one day, her hair falling over her face and all, and said I had to read some damn story in The New Yorker. Who's the author? I said. Salinger, She told me, J. D. Salinger. Who's he? I asked. How should I know, she said, just you read it.

"For Esme--with Love and Squalor" was this story's crumby title. But boy, was that a story. About a G. I. or something and a couple of English kids in the last war. Hel, I said when I was through, just you wait till this guy writes a novel. Novel, my elbow, she said. This Salinger, he won't write no crumby novel. He's a short story guy.--Girls, they kill me. They really do.

But I was right, if you want to know the truth. You should've seen old Hel hit the ceiling when I told her this Salinger, he has not only written a novel, it's a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, too. For crying out loud, she said, what's it about? About this Holden Caulfield, I told her, about the time he ran away to New York from this Pencey Prep School in Agerstown, Pa. Why'd he run away, asked old Hel. Because it was a terrible school, I told her, no matter how you looked at it. And there were no girls. What, said old Hel. Well, only this old Selma Thumer, I said, the headmaster's daughter. But this Holden, he liked her because "she didn't give you a lot of horse-manure about what a great guy her father was."

Then Hel asked what this Holden's father was like, so I told her if she wanted to know the truth Holden didn't want to go into all that David Copperfield-kind of business. It bored him and anyway his "parents would have [had] about two hemorrhages apiece if [he] told anything personal about them." You see, this Holden, I said, he just can't find anybody decent in the lousy world and he's in some sort of crumby Californian home full of psychiatrists.

That damn near killed Hel. Psychiatrists, she howled. That's right, I said, this one psychiatrist guy keeps asking Holden if he's going to apply himself when he goes back to school. (He's already been kicked out of about six.) And Holden, he says how the hell does he know. "I think I am," he says, "but how do I know. I swear it's a stupid question."

That's the way it sounds to me, Hel said, and away she went with this crazy book. "The Catcher in the Rye." What did I tell ya, she said next day. This Salinger, he's a short story guy. And he knows how to write about kids. This book though, it's too long. Gets kind of monotonous. And he should've cut out a lot about these jerks and all at that crumby school. They depress me. They really do. Salinger, he's best with real children. I mean young ones like old Phoebe, his kid sister. She's a personality. Holden and little old Phoebe, Hel said, they kill me. This last part about her and Holden and this Mr. Antolini, the only guy Holden ever thought he could trust, who ever took any interest in him, and who turned out queer--that's terrific. I swear it is.

You needn't swear, He, I said. Know what? This Holden, he's just like you. He finds the whole world's full of people say one thing and mean another and he doesn't like it; and he hates movies and phony slobs and snobs and crumby books and war. Boy, how he hates war. Just like you, Hel, I said. But old Hel, she was already reading this crazy "Catcher" book all over again. That's always a good sign with Hel.

By JAMES STERN

People that were affected by Holden

Since 1951, this book has been involved in controversy, mystery and scandal. Many people has been identified with the characters of the novel and many people has changed their perspective of life after reading the book. For those times (the fifties); sexuality, violence and the life of a very peculiar teenager where issues or topics that had a very strong impact on the audience. There are many cases of people that were affected by Holden and did something about it. There are two famous cases that ended in murder!

Without a doubt, Mark David Chapman is the most famous reader of the novel. He murdered one of the most important artist of all times, John Lennon, because of the influence of Catcher in the Rye.

Another of the murderers who have been linked to reading this book, are Charles Manson; Lee Harvey Oswald, alleged murderer of John F. Kennedy; John Hinckley Jr., who tried to kill Ronald Reagan; Sirhan B. Sirhan and who was arrested for the murder Dérobert F. Kennedy, they all confessed to have been strongly influenced by "The Catcher in the Rye"

It is clear that a lot of people all over the world had a huge impact in their lives after reading Catcher in the Rye.

 

How did teenagers react to the book

 When this novel was first published in 1951, teenagers and the rest of the audience were very surprised about it. The Cather in the Rye talks about subjects that were not very “common” to find in books of those times. It was a decade of changes and innovation, and this novel was very controversial. Holden is sort of an icon for teenagers everywhere. Teenagers lived their own fantasies by reading this book. An adventure in New York City is definitely something a teenager could dream of. It also was very interesting because it had a vulgar language, something new for that age.


A lot of teenagers felt very identified with Holden´s life (or another character of the book), they found someone with the same or similar issues that they had. This book had many significant meanings: It was a way of helping teenagers to feel better about their situation; it was a clear way to show to teenagers, the bad “consequences” of failing subjects and going into bad directions in life; and it was a nice way of entertaining people with the life of a screwed up boy. It also could make another meaning for some people. Each one of the readers of this book, can find their own meaning and message of the book.

This book was been banned from schools and libraries all over the world for many reasons, like:

•       Excessive vulgar language, 
•       Sexual scenes, 
•       Things concerning moral issues, 
•       Excessive violence,
•        Bad influence for teenagers
•       The book is filled with profanity and obscenity

Another incident that gave this book a bad reputation was John Lennon’s assassination.