In Salingers novel, Holden Caulfield is a sixteen.
Both novels feature naive protagonists pining for an ideal world.
I prefer Nabokov's Pale Fire and Ada and some of the Russian language novels (I adore The Gift) finding them more 'timeless' somehow.īut I wouldn't dismiss Salinger's talent, qualifying it with a realization that a lot of art loses it potency over time. Salingers TheCatcher in the Rye can be compared to Cervantes Don Quixote. In both cases there is something timeless in the sexual obsessiveness of the characters and the sheer insanity of the situations they get into. I don't have that problem with Nabokov, even though Lolita, for example, is very much of it's time in all of its many and often hilarious surface details, or with some early Philip Roth. I re-read it a few years ago and still appreciated Salinger's skill, economy and observation but was also left cold by it, finding it too limited in outlook to resonate in a radically different civilization. I am old enough that when I read it first, roughly in 1970, I still got how potent and arresting it was, without really connecting to it in a visceral way. Holden was something new and to most initial readers, regardless of class, completely recognizable and convincing. Read a character analysis of Holden, plot summary, and important quotes. Controversial at the time of publication for its frank language, it was an instant best-seller, and remains beloved by both teens and adults. Holden is not specific about his location while he’s telling the story, but he makes it clear that he is undergoing treatment in a mental hospital or sanatorium. Salinger’s 1951 novel of post-war alienation told by angst-ridden teen Holden Caulfield.
Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Holden Caulfield recounts the days following his expulsion from Pencey Prep, a private school. Summary Full Book Summary The Catcher in the Rye is set around the 1950s and is narrated by a young man named Holden Caulfield. It was wonderful (I fully believe) in its time, original, brave, glancingly accurate with a masterly grasp of the leading character's entire psyche, projected tellingly. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye: book summary, chapter summary and analysis, quotes, essays, and character analysis courtesy of CliffsNotes.