tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post4600609954457886241..comments2024-01-06T10:36:04.084-05:00Comments on A Commonplace Blog: Suspended in literary amberD. G. Myershttp://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-2278524751244660752014-01-12T01:42:28.443-05:002014-01-12T01:42:28.443-05:00I read "Catcher" upon the occasion of hi...I read "Catcher" upon the occasion of his death, and have to say it completely surprised me. Everyone I knew, or saw an interview with, who had read it, took Holden as their role model, their ideal, the rebel who bucks the system etc. I'd always had the idea that he was this self-important upper class nitwit who constantly whined about how put upon he was.<br /><br />Imagine my surprise when I read the book and he was all of those things, but (to my reading anyway) the whole thing was presented in such a fashion that it was obviously intended to be ironic. I found the novel to be brilliant, but I'm appalled that it's given to teenagers to read, as if Holden's something that they should look up to or emulate. The whole thing is about what whiny self-important egotists teenagers can be.<br /><br />Btw, I'm well aware that I'm the only person who read the book this way...Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-58866532349774014572009-07-11T21:43:50.841-04:002009-07-11T21:43:50.841-04:00I think that his Nine Short Stories and especially...I think that his Nine Short Stories and especially "For Esme, with Love and Squalor" were better than "Catcher"Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-39069240050497795862009-07-10T17:21:55.499-04:002009-07-10T17:21:55.499-04:00The sticking point, to me, has always seemed less ...The sticking point, to me, has always seemed less Holden--who Salinger managed to refine from his beginnings in the magazine fiction into the very successfully drawn Holden of the book--and more the Glass family. "An Introduction" and "Hapworth" don't work, and presumably Salinger is in some way aware of it. Caulfield, beginning with the Gladwaller stories, is a literary success story; the Glasses got worse over time. <br /><br />I do buy that Salinger's written steadily since Hapworth--at least up to the last few years, when his health has taken a turn for the worst--but only because his rationale for not publishing is so tied to it.danuphttp://www.vivaelbirdos.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-45435927382415548412009-07-09T18:15:12.904-04:002009-07-09T18:15:12.904-04:00Do you really believe that, Wendy? I am profoundly...Do you really believe that, Wendy? I am profoundly skeptical that Salinger has written much of anything since 1965.D. G. Myershttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10659136455045567825noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3458341.post-9020259633215860542009-07-09T17:46:22.975-04:002009-07-09T17:46:22.975-04:00Another possibility is that he has written more on...Another possibility is that he has written more on Holden . . .Wendy Casterhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02736636055295848483noreply@blogger.com