The Catcher in the Rye

If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two haemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them.

"If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth. In the first place, that stuff bores me, and in the second place, my parents would have about two hemorrhages apiece if I told anything pretty personal about them."

His constant wry observations about what he encounters, from teachers to phonies (the two of course are not mutually exclusive) capture the essence of the eternal teenage experience of alienation.

It has often been commented upon that the best way for an author to achieve fame (and, if still alive, fortune) is to have his or her book banned. Of course, one has to play it right. Part of Galileo's initial fame came from the efforts of the Church to suppress his writings--as he stayed in Church-dominated areas, he didn't achieve much fortune.

Controversy worked well also for J.D. Salinger (Jerome David Salinger). He was an American-born (actually, New York City-born) author whose only enduringly popular piece has been 'Catcher in the Rye', which continues to sell a quarter-million copies annually.

'Catcher in the Rye' follows the tale of Holden Caulfield, a boarding-school truant who critiques society and himself in the course of trying to achieve adulthood, most expressly typified by the typical American rite of passage, that of losing one's virginity. Caulfield is in many ways a typical male adolescent, both naive and worldly in an odd mixture; both passionate and violent without mature ways of expression; sullen, withdrawn, yet yearning for acceptance and love.

In many ways it has become an anthem or manifesto of violence against a phoney system. The man who shot John Lennon was influenced by this book, as was the man who shot Ronald Reagan. 'What scares me most is the other guy's face...'

Of course, to ban this book is to admit that there is something that needs to be considered and dealt with about youthful, and particularly male youthful, drives and desires. So much of society seems inadequate to the task of giving a framework for this. Lest you think I am decrying modern society in favour of a 'Father Knows Best' world, remember -- 'Catcher in the Rye' was published in 1951. There is something timeless about the struggles of adolescence. There is likewise something timeless about the overall difficulty of dealing with society which is simultaneously moralising and falling from grace.

This is no case of banning Edmund Crull's treatise on the curing of venereal diseases (circa 1708, a quack treatise that always advocated cures that, not surprisingly, could always be procured in Crull's shop); it really isn't even of the calibre of a banning a la D.H. Lawrence, which could have a more prurient element as the focus of the bans -- 'Catcher in the Rye' is in issues of language and sexual expression in no way untypical of many unbanned books. But, it espouses a critique of society that is uncomfortable while using a base language and subject to do so -- this is a combination, a pile of straws with one straw too many, for many jurisdictions to bear.

So, as D.H. Lawrence would perhaps pen, the 'censor-moron is on the loose'.

In John Guare's recent play/film, 'Six Degrees of Separation', the character Paul states that his thesis in college had been on 'Catcher in the Rye'. He launches into his own analysis of the text with his own critique of society, made all the more ironic as the play progresses by the fact that Paul is every bit as phony as the society which both he and Caulfield blast with scathing observation. In essence, they are right at home, save for the fact that they both make the more comfortable set less comfortable.

A book worthy of being banned is worthy of being read! I don't know, in point of fact, that I would recommend the book (not really my kind of literature), save for the banning. And thus, the censors lose again.


un petit bonheur!   Novembre 7, 2004
3 sur 4 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile

Il y a bien longtemps que je n'ai pas lu ce livre mais il m'a toujours laisse un petit quelque chose... Quand on lit les aventures d'Holden, on ne peut pas s'empecher de rire (cf. la scene a l'hotel) mais on en ressort un brin melancolique aussi. Bref, un livre a l'image des ados finallement et que tous les parents et leurs enfants devraient lire. (j'attendrai encore un peu pour le donner a mon fils...)


Manuel pour comprendre les ados   Mars 23, 2003
Vladimir (Paris, France)
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Voila ce que ce classique est. Meme si publie il y a plus de cinquante ans, le seul roman de J. D. Salinger reste toujours aussi actuel. Allez, laissez-vous guider par Holden dans sa fugue... et redecouvrez l'adolescent en vous!


un moment de magie,   Août 1, 2002
4 sur 6 ont trouvé ce commentaire utile

Salinger nous livre ici, dans un recit court, l'histoire d'un adolescent, en proie a une crise....d'adolescence : mal etre, difficultes de communication, volonte de fuite, haine des "phonies" (tout ce qui est faux-jeton, pure apparence). Le livre est intense, porte par des mots simples et absorbe completement le lecteur. Un chef d'oeuvre incontournable.