NY Times: JD Salinger dies at 91
With its cynical, slangy vernacular voice (Holden’s two favorite expressions are “phony” and “g-d--m”), its sympathetic understanding of adolescence and its fierce if alienated sense of morality and distrust of the adult world, the novel struck a nerve in cold war America and quickly attained cult status, especially among the young. Reading “Catcher” used to be an essential rite of passage, almost as important as getting your learner’s permit.
I pulled that portion of the article to post here because I have come to think of Cather in the Rye as a rite of passage myself, a common experience that we as adults (and teachers) share with our students coming through the grades. As students come into my classroom with that book in hand I know that they will love it, hate it, not care about it, but we have a common place to talk as I read it too when I was in school.
For my part I enjoyed the novel mostly because I blessed with an amazing teacher to cover it with me. Mr. Horschak (no, not from Welcome Back Cotter) was a brilliant instructor and lecturer with a style of discussion that I can only still hope to aspire to someday. His class "Utopia and the Search for Human Identity" was my favorite of all English classes in school, and a contender for top class of all. Holden Caufield was someone we all knew like a brother by the end of our time on the novel, and I think many of us felt we knew him better than we knew ourselves.
Catcher in the Rye remains one of my favorite books. Salinger's death is a loss for all of literature.
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