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6297J
Guest
Peace at last for JD Salinger
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Please see the most recent updates in the "Where did the .com name go?" thread. Posts number 16 and 17.
Matt Wynn
New member
2002 Secondary school, read catcher in the rye, will always remember the opening:
'If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.'
truly a sad day, Salinger will be missed :salute:
'If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.'
truly a sad day, Salinger will be missed :salute:
brad kaste
Charter Member
....Wonder what parting statements Holden Cauldfield would have about the lose of his creator......
tonybones2112
Charter Member
zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
I read 4 pages of Catcher and died of boredom. Good thing he stayed a recluse, maybe his biography will be named A Life Wasted. If you want to read literature, read The Pearl by John Steinbeck, The Contender by Robert Lipsyte, 1984 by Orwell, and All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. I'd make it law that these four books must be read to qualify for graduation from school. When I refused to read the great exhalted defining Catcher my English teacher asked why, I said I have a finite number of heartbeats and don't intend on wasting a single one on pulp fiction.
"If you would know life, read The Godfather"- Roberto Calvi, Italian financier who, with the Vatican Bank, bilked investors of 2 billion dollars in the late 1970s.
Tony Bones
I read 4 pages of Catcher and died of boredom. Good thing he stayed a recluse, maybe his biography will be named A Life Wasted. If you want to read literature, read The Pearl by John Steinbeck, The Contender by Robert Lipsyte, 1984 by Orwell, and All Quiet On The Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. I'd make it law that these four books must be read to qualify for graduation from school. When I refused to read the great exhalted defining Catcher my English teacher asked why, I said I have a finite number of heartbeats and don't intend on wasting a single one on pulp fiction.
"If you would know life, read The Godfather"- Roberto Calvi, Italian financier who, with the Vatican Bank, bilked investors of 2 billion dollars in the late 1970s.
Tony Bones
Quixoticish
Charter Member
I never saw the attraction with Catcher either. I've read it cover to cover three times thus far in my life and each time I manage to discover a new level of contempt for it.
It really doesn't float my boat.
It really doesn't float my boat.
tonybones2112
Charter Member
Chris, I didn't "rebel" against my parents or their values, we were too busy trying to survive the ravages of robber-baron capitalism for any of that pop-culture plastic such as "angst" and "rebellion". What I had "angst" and "rebellion" against was Abbie Hoffman, Grace Slick and the Jefferson Airplane telling me what a s****y country I lived in. If I ever had a hungry day as a young person, physically, spiritually, or intellectually, it was my fault. Holden as a character is an upper-class geek whose problems are of his own manufacture and not worthy of my time. Catcher was and is not worthy of the furor it has created, either pro or con. It's a non-sequitor. What is revealing is the cries of "censorship" while at the same time penalizing dissent against it's emptiness and then trying to force it to be read by students.
My wife differs with me on Salinger and his work. She and anyone else who feels his pathological and intellectual agoraphobia is "relevant" may do so without my slashing tires. I'm not into Salinger's Zen-existentialism, which preaches putting your own interpretation onto any given proposition. My interpretation is Salinger was a coward and his most noted work is a piece of s**t. I'll sit over here in the corner with my Isaac Asimov.
Bones
I remember well my days as a student. Some of the intellectual pygmies in my English class were so excited when our teacher assigned "Catcher in the Rye..."
...'cause they though the title was "Catch Her in the Raw..."
I too am one who didn't really care all that much about the book, much prefering Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, et alia.
...'cause they though the title was "Catch Her in the Raw..."
I too am one who didn't really care all that much about the book, much prefering Heinlein, Asimov, Clarke, et alia.
jmig
SOH-CM-2026
When was "Catcher in the Rye" released? While I was aware of the book, I was never subjected to reading Salinger.
Tony I am familiar with most of the books you mentioned. Loved Steinbeck. My favorite was the one with Lennie and George. Was that "Mice and Men"?
I enjoy reading so, I didn't mind reading assignments. the only book I hated was Gustave Flaubert's "Madame Bovary." Upon finishing it a as requirement for some class, I threw it against the wall. That book sickened and depressed me.
Tony I am familiar with most of the books you mentioned. Loved Steinbeck. My favorite was the one with Lennie and George. Was that "Mice and Men"?
I enjoy reading so, I didn't mind reading assignments. the only book I hated was Gustave Flaubert's "Madame Bovary." Upon finishing it a as requirement for some class, I threw it against the wall. That book sickened and depressed me.