1/28 - The Catcher in the Rye

There are like four or five books I'm wanting to write about - one that's relatively new (published in the fall), and a few that are "older."

But I can't let today go by without acknowledging Salinger.

I will be honest - the only Salinger book I've ever read is Catcher in the Rye.  But it's not the only one I own, and so it's just that whole "scheduling" nightmare that Nine Stories and Franny and Zooey are caught in.  In light of Salinger's death, I'll probably expedite those.  When an author you love dies, you sort of have that weird "death of a friend" reaction.  Instead of wishing you had called him one last time, you're left wishing you had read [that book] when he was still alive.

It makes no sense, I know, but very little we think makes any sense (if you were to really think about it).

Catcher is one I go back and read once every three years or so, starting at age 12.  What makes this one of my favorite books is that it was suggested to me by my dad.  When I was a kid, Dad wasn't a big reader.  (This has since changed, but only recently, and still not fiction.)  He disliked reading as a child/teen, so if he were to recommend something to me, I knew it had to be good.  Catcher in the Rye was that book.  He gave me a copy when I was in middle school, saying "if you feel misunderstood and hate the world and everyone in it right now, you'll appreciate this."  I didn't hate everyone, but he was right.

Catcher's a book that I appreciate for different reasons at different points in my life.  The last kick was the fact that it was written for adults, but appreciated by teenagers.  I love books like that that get "adopted" by a young adult audience, without being written for them.  I think that's why - the author writes what is true, and teens are receptive to that.  Holden doesn't really know what to do with his life, which, I imagine, would be a refreshing narrative in comparison with YA books of "old."  Fifteen now is still like fifteen then, so no wonder it's still a favorite novel of teenagers each generation.  That's universality, man - it's the Dark Side of the Moon for literature.

Salinger was an old dude, so it's not like we can really feel cheated.  I think it was Homer Simpson who said "That's what old people do,  son.  They die."  But you still feel a loss in the literary realm.  Salinger wasn't publishing - and his quotes on why he stopped make a pretty interesting case for the definition of art - but he was still writing.  And even if he stopped sharing what he saw, the world still seems different without that perspective:

Among other things, you find that you're not the first person who was ever confused and frightened and even sickened by human behavior. You're by no means alone on that score, you'll be excited and stimulated to know.  Many, many men have been just as troubled morally and spiritually as you are right now.  Happily, some of them kept records of their troubles.  You'll learn from them--if you want to.  Just as someday, if you have something to offer, someone will learn something from you.  It's a beautiful reciprocal arrangement.  And it isn't education.  It's history.  It's poetry.