Walking in Holden's Footsteps - an interactive map |
With THE
CATCHER IN THE RYE (1951),
J. D. Salinger
brought to a wide audience one of the most memorable characters
in American fiction: Holden Caulfield, 16 years old,
disillusioned, cynical, prone to depression, indeed an outright
failure by conventional standards. It's a week before Christmas
and Holden has just been kicked out of his exclusive
Pennsylvania prep school -- not the first academic institution
to cut short his stay. He heads to New York City, his hometown;
putting off the inevitable reckoning with his parents, Holden
spends what money he has on the "vacation" of a young lifetime,
two endlessly eventful days in a very self-conscious coming of
age. Salinger not only draws an indelible portrait of the
teenage psyche, he is responsible for helping re-create it: the
popular image of the present-day American teen -- at least the
intelligent and sensitive sort -- is deeply indebted to Holden
Caulfield. The novel's depictions of underage drinking and
sexual preoccupation along with its abundant profanity have made
CATCHER IN THE RYE the target of censorship efforts for decades.
But this is a novel whose spirit is far less offensive than it
is offended. We come of age because we must, it acknowledges,
but don't insist we act happy about it. - PBS/Reflections
on the American Novel |