The Literature Book

257

See also: The Sorrows of Young Werther 104 ■ The Magic Mountain 224–27 ■

A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man 241 ■ The Bell Jar 290

POSTWAR WRITING

York hotel. In his confusion about

women and sex, he unconsciously

seeks out kindness and familiarity.

Having paid for a prostitute he asks

if they can simply “talk.” He strikes

up a conversation with two nuns,

despite his atheism, and they insist

he is “a very sweet boy.”

Inevitably, Salinger’s dirty

realism caused controversy. Some

critics dismissed the novel as

puerile and maudlin. But Salinger

gained cult status in the years

following its publication, further

fueled by his reclusive lifestyle.

Death and grief are prevailing

themes in The Catcher in the Rye.

After Holden’s brother dies, he

smashes his hands in rage; his

classmate is bullied and comes

to a tragic end; and the very title

of the book refers to stopping

(catching) children running through

fields before they fall off a cliff. It

is likely that the loss of numerous

young soldiers in World War II

influenced Salinger to write this

compelling first-person narrative,

which remains an enduring portrait

of the teenager in crisis. ■

Central Park: Ice skates

with Sally and suggests they

could run away together.

Museum of Natural

History: Visits the museum

to kill time; nothing changes

here, he says—it is a world

that is frozen in time.

Edmont Hotel: Checks in

here after leaving Pencey

Prep and has an awkward

encounter with Sunny

(a hooker) and Maurice (a

pimp and elevator operator).

Broadway: Heads here to

buy a record for his sister,

Phoebe (and overhears a

child singing about the

catcher in the rye).

Ernie’s: Bumps into

Lillian Simmons at Ernie’s

nightclub in Greenwich

Village (where apparently

teenagers can drink at 16).

The numbers in the map

plot Holden’s route through

New York

J. D. Salinger

Jerome David Salinger was

born in 1919 to wealthy

parents in New York City.

Like his main protagonist

Holden Caulfield in The

Catcher in the Rye, Salinger

attended several schools

before graduating. After

spending a year in Europe,

he studied at Columbia

University, taking a writing

course led by Whit Burnett,

editor of Story magazine,

who became his mentor

early in his writing career.

Salinger was drafted into

the US Army in 1942 and

continued to write despite

suffering from a “nervous

condition.” The Catcher

in the Rye thrust Salinger

onto the world stage as a

literary celebrity. However,

he resented the attention and

became reclusive and far less

productive. By the time of his

death in 2010, The Catcher in

the Rye remained Salinger’s

only full-length novel.

Other key works

1953 Nine Stories

1955 Raise High the Roof

Beam, Carpenters

1959 Seymour: An

Introduction

1961 Franny and Zooey

1

Holden’s journey through New York

19 Zoo

12 The Lake

Wicker

Bar

10

Carousel 20

Edmont Hotel^2

5 Central Park

Metropolitan

Museum of Art

18

Museum of

Natural History

6

13 Going “Home”

17 Phoebe’s school

Grand Central

Terminal

4

Fifth Avenue 16

14 Antolini’s

Theater 8

Broadway 11

Radio City ice rink 9

3 Ernie’s

1 Penn Station

7 Biltmore Hotel

15 Restaurant

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