Discussion Topic |
|
This thread has been locked |
bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
|
|
|
Topic Author's Original Post - Jan 28, 2010 - 01:43pm PT
|
Time passes. Anyone else survive a teenaged life influenced by "Catcher In The Rye?"
By God, I didn't just read Holden Caulfield, I lived him. Still am, in fact.
|
|
Jaybro
Social climber
Wolf City, Wyoming
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 01:57pm PT
|
Raise high the roofbeam, Carpenter.
and
"Don't leave your crummy toenails all over the floor."
|
|
bookworm
Social climber
Falls Church, VA
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 02:09pm PT
|
"By God, I didn't just read Holden Caulfield, I lived him. Still am, in fact."
really? you shirk responsiblity? consider every man who offers a gesture of affection a homosexual? seek advice from 9-year-olds? express scorn for "perverts" as you peer into other people's hotel room windows? blame all of your problems on others?
i like the book, but is there anyone else out there who despises holden caulfield? i just can't believe salinger intended holden to be anybody's role model
|
|
Mighty Hiker
climber
Vancouver, B.C.
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 02:51pm PT
|
Saddened by loss of a literary icon - although to be honest, I never 'got' Catcher in the Rye. Various friends thought/think it was really good, I tried to read it, but that's about it.
|
|
bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 28, 2010 - 03:09pm PT
|
but is there anyone else out there who despises holden caulfield?
oh, of course. what's not to despise about a confused fifteen year old kid?
|
|
Watusi
Social climber
Newport, OR
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 03:30pm PT
|
Yeah I just read about that Bob...He was required reading in many classes for me!!
|
|
Patrick Sawyer
climber
Originally California now Ireland
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 03:30pm PT
|
oh, of course. what's not to despise about a confused fifteen year old kid?
BVB, you're not referring to Bookworm are you? Come on, Bookie's not that bad.
|
|
bvb
Social climber
flagstaff arizona
|
|
|
Topic Author's Reply - Jan 28, 2010 - 04:17pm PT
|
it's interesting that 59 years after first being published, catcher still sells 250,000 copies a year.
talk about staying power.
|
|
fosburg
climber
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 04:35pm PT
|
"If there is an amateur reader still left in the world-or anybody who just reads and runs-I ask him or her, with untellable affection and gratitude, to split the dedication of his book four ways with my wife and children." Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenter
|
|
Levy
Big Wall climber
So Cal
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 04:46pm PT
|
Silly me, I thought Salinger died years ago. My bad.
|
|
Scared Silly
Trad climber
UT
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 05:48pm PT
|
There was an NPR interview not too recently with Greg Herriges who managed to meet Salinger in the 70s. It was humorous listening the story. You can read about in 10 minutes with Salinger.
|
|
WandaFuca
Social climber
From the gettin place
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 07:49pm PT
|
'worm,
Are they still allowing you to teach high school English?
Who said Holden's a role model? A lot of teens (and apparently some adults) can relate to the character.
Anyone who can't feel some empathy for the character should be writing a right-wing blog, not teaching teens.
|
|
stevep
Boulder climber
Salt Lake, UT
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 07:57pm PT
|
I don't often agree with bookie, but in this case I'm mostly with him. I find Caulfield kind of a whiny brat, and the writing less than enthralling.
As far as teen characters of major literary works, I'd take Huck Finn any day.
|
|
Curt
Boulder climber
Gilbert, AZ
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 08:31pm PT
|
"...Silly me, I thought Salinger died years ago. My bad..."
That was Pierre.
Curt
|
|
Fletcher
Trad climber
The beckoning silence
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 09:45pm PT
|
Holden Caulfield... the port-Stonemaster? Arrogant punk with and attitude.
Salinger captured eloquently the contemporary teen spirit, all the messy good and bad elements. I certainly identified with Holden and I was a pretty straight arrow in high school.... well one who was perceived that way... that rep allowed me to get away with a lot of stuff other kids never could have!
eric
|
|
oldtopangalizard
Social climber
ca
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 09:56pm PT
|
Bizarre coincidence. Early this morning I finished reading The Catcher In The Rye for the first time. I then went out for a great hike in Marin. Got back to my truck at 10 AM and the first thing on the radio is Salinger's passing.
|
|
cintune
climber
the Moon and Antarctica
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 10:14pm PT
|
Always liked Franny & Zooey and Raise Hight the roofbeams best.
The Onion pretty well nailed it:
http://www.theonion.com/content/news/bunch_of_phonies_mourn_j_d
CORNISH, NH—In this big dramatic production that didn't do anyone any good (and was pretty embarrassing, really, if you think about it), thousands upon thousands of phonies across the country mourned the death of author J.D. Salinger, who was 91 years old for crying out loud. "He had a real impact on the literary world and on millions of readers," said hot-shot English professor David Clarke, who is just like the rest of them, and even works at one of those crumby schools that rich people send their kids to so they don't have to look at them for four years. "There will never be another voice like his." Which is exactly the lousy kind of goddamn thing that people say, because really it could mean lots of things, or nothing at all even, and it's just a perfect example of why you should never tell anybody anything.
|
|
Peter Haan
Trad climber
San Francisco, CA
|
|
|
Jan 28, 2010 - 11:17pm PT
|
Salinger’s great Catcher in the Rye was a picaresque work. And so, stood in the long tradition or genre of these rough shifty works of alienation and unfocused fury of unbelonging youth. There are tons of them. We start with Petronius even and move forward. I loved JD’s novella and read it when roughly the same age as Holden. Now it turns out that JD was actually largely Holden, at least of a sort. An interesting conclusion to the very long 59 year story for the work.
|
|
habitat
climber
grass pass
|
|
|
Jan 29, 2010 - 12:03am PT
|
Ha ha!
Thanks for posting that Cintune...almost as good as the real thing!
I love Catcher In The Rye, have read it a few times. Really relate to it. Maybe it's the sarcasm, or just the flow of it, but it's one of my favorite books. Really. Not that anyone cares. Why should they?
|
|
|
SuperTopo on the Web
|
Let us know!