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American writer whose works were published in the magazine The New Yorker in the 2nd half of the 1940s and in the 1950s. Salinger grew up in Manhattan and began writing stories in high school.

Born in New York. He graduated from the military school in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. Here he wrote his first stories. He listened to lectures at New York University, attended lectures at Ursinus College (Pennsylvania), then entered Columbia University, where he attended a course of lectures on the short story. However, he never graduated from any higher educational institution.

In 1942, he was drafted into the army, graduated from the signal corps officer-sergeant school, and then, with the rank of sergeant, was transferred to counterintelligence and sent to the city of Nashville (Tennessee). He worked with prisoners of war and took part in the liberation of several concentration camps.

Salinger's writing career began with the publication short stories in New York magazines. His first story, "The Young People", was published in 1940. And eleven years after its first publication, Salinger released his only novel, “The Catcher in the Rye,” which met with unanimous critical approval and still remains popular.

IN last years Throughout his life, he had virtually no contact with the outside world, living in a mansion in the town of Cornish, New Hampshire, and practicing various spiritual practices and alternative medicine.
Jerome David Salinger has died natural death at his home in New Hampshire at the age of 91.

"Catcher in the rye"

Novel American writer Jerome Salinger. In it, on behalf of a 16-year-old boy named Holden, he openly talks about his heightened perception of American reality and rejection of general canons and morality modern society. The work was extremely popular among both young people and adults, having a significant impact on world culture second half of the 20th century.

The novel has been translated into almost all world languages. In 2005, Time magazine included the novel in its list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923, and Modern Library included it in its list of the 100 best English-language novels of the 20th century. However, despite this, in the USA the novel was often criticized and banned due to large quantity obscene language.

The first predecessors of The Catcher in the Rye were early stories Salinger, many of which outline themes that were later raised by the writer in the novel. While studying at Columbia University, he wrote the story “Young Guys,” one of the heroines of which was described by researchers as “a barely outlined prototype of Sally Hayes.” In November 1941, a short story entitled "A Minor Riot on Madison Avenue" was written, which later became the seventeenth chapter of the novel: it describes Holden's fight with Sally after the skating rink and his meeting with Carl Lewis. A Little Riot on Madison Avenue was Salinger's first work to feature a character named Holden Caulfield. Another story, entitled "I'm Crazy," contains sketches of two episodes from The Catcher in the Rye (Holden's farewell to his history teacher and his conversation with the mother of one of his classmates on the way from school to New York); its main character is also named Holden Caulfield. In the story “The Day Before Goodbye” (1944), the main character John Gladwaller is visited by his friend, Vincent Caulfield, who talks about his younger brother Holden, "who was kicked out of school a hundred times." From the story it follows that Holden served in the army and went missing when he was not even 20 years old. In 1949, The New Yorker accepted for publication a ninety-page manuscript authored by Salinger, whose main character was again Holden Caulfield, but the writer himself later withdrew the text. The final version of the novel was published by Little, Brown and Company in 1951.

“The Catcher in the Rye” summary

The novel is written from the perspective of sixteen-year-old Holden Caulfield, who is being treated in a clinic: he tells about the story that happened to him last winter and preceding his illness. The events it narrates unfold in the pre-Christmas days of December 1949. The young man's memories begin from the day he left the Pansy closed school, from where he was expelled for poor academic performance.

Seventeen-year-old Holden Caulfield, who is in a sanatorium, remembers “that crazy story, which happened last Christmas,” after which he “almost gave up,” was ill for a long time, and now he is undergoing treatment and hopes to return home soon.

His memories begin from the very day when he left Pencey, closed high school in Egerstown, Pennsylvania. Actually, he did not leave of his own free will - he was expelled for academic failure - out of nine subjects in that quarter, he failed five. The situation is complicated by the fact that Pansy is not the first school to leave young hero. Before this, he had already abandoned Elkton Hill, because, in his opinion, “there was one big linden tree there.” However, the feeling that there is a “phony” around him - falseness, pretense and window dressing - does not let Caulfield go away throughout the entire novel. Both the adults and peers he meets irritate him, but he can’t bear to be alone.

The last day of school is rife with conflict. He returns to Pencey from New York, where he went as captain of the fencing team to a match that did not take place due to his fault - he forgot his sports equipment in the subway car. Roommate Stradlater asks him to write an essay for him - describing a house or room, but Caulfield, who likes to do things his own way, tells the story of his late brother Allie's baseball glove, who wrote poetry on it and read it during matches. Stradlater, having read the text, is offended by the author who deviated from the topic, declaring that he put a pig on him, but Caulfield, upset that Stradlater went on a date with a girl whom he himself liked, does not remain in debt. The matter ends with a brawl and Caulfield's broken nose.

Once in New York, he realizes that he cannot come home and tell his parents that he was expelled. He gets into a taxi and goes to the hotel. On the way, he asks his favorite question, which haunts him: “Where do the ducks go in Central Park when the pond freezes over?” The taxi driver, of course, is surprised by the question and wonders if the passenger is laughing at him. But he doesn’t even think of making fun of him; however, the question about ducks is more likely a manifestation of Holden Caulfield’s confusion in front of the complexity of the world around him, rather than an interest in zoology.

This world both oppresses him and attracts him. It’s hard for him with people, but unbearable without them. He tries to have fun at the hotel nightclub, but nothing good comes of it, and the waiter refuses to serve him alcohol as he is underage. He goes to night bar in Greenwich Village, where his older brother D.B., a talented writer who was tempted by large screenwriter fees in Hollywood, loved to visit. On the way, he asks another taxi driver a question about ducks, again without receiving an intelligible answer. At the bar he meets an acquaintance of D.B. with some sailor. This girl arouses such hostility in him that he quickly leaves the bar and goes on foot to the hotel.

The hotel elevator operator asks if he wants a girl - five dollars for the time, fifteen for the night. Holden agrees “for a while,” but when the girl appears in his room, he does not find the strength to part with his innocence. He wants to chat with her, but she came to work, and since the client is not ready to comply, she demands ten dollars from him. He reminds us that the agreement was about the five. She leaves and soon returns with the elevator operator. The next skirmish ends with another defeat of the hero.

The next morning, he makes an appointment with Sally Hayes, leaves the inhospitable hotel, checks in his suitcases and begins the life of a homeless person. Wearing a backwards red hunting cap, bought in New York that fateful day when he left his fencing equipment on the subway, Holden Caulfield wanders the cold streets big city. Going to the theater with Sally does not bring him joy. The play seems stupid, the audience admiring famous actors Lantami, nightmare. His companion also annoys him more and more.

Soon, as one might expect, a quarrel ensues. After the performance, Holden and Sally go ice skating, and then, in a bar, the hero gives vent to the feelings that overwhelmed his tormented soul. Explaining his dislike for everything that surrounds him: “I hate... Lord, how much I hate all this! And not only school, I hate everything. I hate taxis, buses where the conductor yells at you to get out through the back platform, I hate getting to know the scrap guys who call Lantov “angels,” I hate riding in elevators when I just want to go outside, I hate trying on suits at Brooks...”

He is quite annoyed that Sally does not share his negative attitude towards what he dislikes so much, and most importantly, towards school. When he invites her to take a car and leave for two weeks to drive around new places, and she refuses, judiciously reminding her that “we are, in essence, still children,” the irreparable happens: Holden utters insulting words, and Sally leaves in tears.

New meeting - new disappointments. Carl Lewis, a student from Princeton, is too focused on himself to show sympathy for Holden, and he, left alone, gets drunk, calls Sally, asks for her forgiveness, and then wanders through cold New York and into Central Park, near the duck pond itself, drops the record he bought as a gift for his little sister Phoebe.

Returning home - and to his relief, finding that his parents had gone to visit - he hands Phoebe only the fragments. But she's not angry. In general, despite her young years, she perfectly understands her brother’s condition and guesses why he returned home ahead of schedule. It is in a conversation with Phoebe that Holden expresses his dream: “I imagine little children playing in the evening huge field in the rye. Thousands of kids, and not a soul around, not a single adult except me... And my job is to catch the kids so that they don’t fall into the abyss.”

However, Holden is not ready to meet his parents, and, having borrowed money from his sister that she had put aside for Christmas gifts, he goes to his former teacher, Mr. Antolini. Despite the late hour, he accepts him and settles him in for the night. Like a true mentor, he tries to give him a number useful tips, how to build relationships with the outside world, but Holden is too tired to perceive reasonable sayings. Then suddenly he wakes up in the middle of the night to find his teacher at his bedside, stroking his forehead. Suspecting Mr. Antolini of bad intentions, Holden leaves his house and spends the night at Grand Central Station.

However, he soon realizes that he misinterpreted the teacher’s behavior and played the fool, and this further intensifies his melancholy.

Thinking about how to live next, Holden decides to go somewhere to the West and there, in accordance with the long-standing American tradition, try to start all over again. He sends Phoebe a note stating his intention to leave and asks her to come to the appointed place, as he wants to return the money he borrowed from her. But the little sister appears with a suitcase and declares that she is going to the West with her brother. Willingly or unwittingly, little Phoebe plays a prank on Holden himself - she declares that she will not go to school anymore, and in general she is tired of this life. Holden, on the contrary, has to involuntarily take the point of view common sense, forgetting for a while about his denial of everything. He shows prudence and responsibility and convinces his little sister to abandon his intention, assuring her that he himself will not go anywhere. He takes Phoebe to the zoo, where she rides on a carousel while he admires her.

Quotes and aphorisms

These girls are strange people. Every time you mention some purebred bastard - very mean or very narcissistic, every time you talk about him to a girl, she will certainly say that he has an “inferiority complex.” This may be true, but that doesn't stop him from being an asshole. Yes, girls. One time I introduced Roberta Walsh's friend to one of my friends. His name was Bob Robinson, and he really had an inferiority complex. It was immediately obvious that he was embarrassed by his parents, because they said “they want” or “you want,” and everything like that, and besides, they were quite poor. But he himself was not at all one of the worst. A very nice guy, but Roberta Walsh's friend didn't like him at all. She told Roberta that he was wondering, but she decided that he was wondering...

In my opinion, he himself no longer understands whether he plays well or not. But he has nothing to do with it. It's the fault of these idiots who clap for him - they will spoil anyone, just give them free rein.

If a person is dead, you can't stop loving him, damn it. Especially if he was better than everyone alive, you know?

What I hate most is going to bed when I'm not at all tired.

You can't find peace quiet place- he is not in the world. Sometimes you think - maybe there is, but by the time you get there, someone will sneak in front of you and write obscenity right in front of your nose. Check it out for yourself. Sometimes it seems to me that when I die, I’ll end up in a cemetery, they’ll put a monument over me, they’ll write “Holden Caulfield,” and the year of birth, and the year of death, and under all this someone will scribble obscenities. I am sure that this will be the case.

I always say “it’s very nice to meet you” when I’m not at all pleased. But if you want to live with people, you have to say things.

In general, I am very uneducated, but I read a lot.

Just because somebody’s dead, you don’t just stop liking them, for God’s sake - especially if they were about a thousand times nicer than the people you know that’re alive and all.

It would be better if some things didn't change. It would be nice if they could be placed in a glass display case and not be touched.

And books that captivate me are such that as soon as you finish reading them, you immediately think: it would be nice if this writer became yours best friend and so that you can talk to him on the phone whenever you want.

Don't you dare call me "baby"! Crap! I'm old enough to be your father, you fool!
- No, you’re not good enough!.. First of all, I wouldn’t let you into my house on the threshold...

If you're not in the mood, nothing will come of it anyway.

Anyway, I keep picturing all these little kids playing some game in this big field of rye and all. Thousands of little kids, and nobody’s around - nobody big, I mean - except me. And I’m standing on the edge of some crazy cliff. What I have to do, I have to catch everybody if they start to go over the cliff - I mean if they’re running and they don’t look where they’re going I have to come out from somewhere and catch them. That's all I'd do all day. I’d just be the catcher in the rye and all. I know it's crazy, but that's the only thing I'd really like to be. I know it's crazy.

I decided to do this: pretend to be deaf and dumb. Then you won’t have to start all sorts of unnecessary stupid conversations with anyone. If anyone wants to talk to me, they will have to write on a piece of paper and show it to me. They will eventually get so sick of it that I will avoid talking for the rest of my life. Everyone will think that I am a poor deaf-mute fool and will leave me alone.

The bad thing is that sometimes stupid things are fun.

I have trouble with these girls. Sometimes you don’t even want to look at her, you see that she is a fool, but as soon as she does something nice, I already fall in love. Oh those girls, damn them. They can drive you crazy.

I imagined how little children played in the evening in a huge field in the rye. Thousands of kids, and around - not a soul, not a single adult except me. And I’m standing on the very edge of the cliff, over the abyss, you know? And my job is to catch the kids so they don’t fall into the abyss. You see, they are playing and don’t see where they are running, and then I run up and catch them so that they don’t fall off. That's all my work. Guard the guys over the abyss in the rye. I know this is nonsense, but this is the only thing I really want. I'm probably a fool.

If a beautiful girl comes to a date, who will be upset that she is late? Nobody!

Damn money. You always get upset because of them.

In general, I often leave somewhere, but I never think about any farewell. I hate it. I don’t think about whether it’s sad or unpleasant for me to leave. But when I leave a place, I need to feel that I am really leaving it. And then it becomes even more unpleasant.

The abyss you are flying into is a terrible abyss, dangerous. Anyone who falls into it will never feel the bottom. He falls, falls endlessly. This happens to people who, at some point in their lives, began to look for something that their usual environment could not give them. Or rather, they thought that they could not find anything for themselves in their familiar environment. And they stopped looking. They stopped looking without even trying to find anything.

I am fascinated by such books that as soon as you finish reading them, you immediately think: it would be nice if this writer became your best friend and that you could talk to him on the phone whenever you want. But this rarely happens.

I... don't like cars. You see, I'm not interested. I'd rather get myself a horse, damn it. At least there is something human in horses. At least you can talk to the horse...

Ugly girls have a very bad time. Sometimes I feel so sorry for them that I can’t even look at them, especially when they sit with some crazy person who tells them about his idiotic football.

He hated being called a moron. All nerds hate being called nerds.

As soon as we hugged each other tighter, I suddenly told her that I love her and all that. Of course, it was a lie, but the point is that at that moment I myself was sure of it. No, I'm crazy! I swear to God I'm crazy!

In general, if you take ten people from those who look at a fake picture and roar into three streams, you can guarantee that nine of them will turn out to be the most hardened bastards in their souls. I'm telling you seriously.

Source – Wikipedia, allsoch.ru, librebook.me

Jerome Salinger was born into a Jewish family. His father, a successful sausage merchant, having given him an excellent education, expected his son to continue family business. But his real passion was literature. What characterized creative manner writer? Probably a keen eye, the ability to see blatant injustice behind the official seeming decency. Consider how the circumstances arise under which a young man in a civilized country becomes unhappy. Salinger's fame was quick and dizzying: at the age of thirty-two he became famous throughout the country by writing the novel “The Catcher in the Rye.”

Strange was his spiritual world. To him, who was acutely aware of the acute lack of spirituality in society, it seemed artificial and far-fetched.

Through the mouth of his character, the author says that he would rather choose a horse than a car, because at least it’s possible to talk to it. The book “The Catcher in the Rye” is a novel-concern, a novel-problem. Salinger tells readers in it that while adults are “playing around”, endlessly rebuilding their far-fetched and therefore imperfect world, children are perplexed when they see it as it is given: with the bright sun and green grass, a river, friends in the yard . But gradually their clear and pure gaze fades as they plunge into the desert of life. They will abandon their childhood dreams and impulses. They will, of course, grow up.

The book is a story of no longer a child, but not yet an adult - seventeen-year-old Holden Caulfield, who is completing a course of treatment for tuberculosis in a sanatorium. The young man talks about the events of last year. After a conflict and fight with classmate Stradler, walking with a girl he liked, he leaves the boarding school in Agerstown in the same way as the previous one. The real reason is academic failure: Holden was not graded in half of his course subjects. The young man believes that everything around him is unreal, feigned, “a fake.” This is the hero of the book “The Catcher in the Rye”. The content of the novel further follows the adventures of a runaway schoolboy. He leaves for his native New York, but is afraid to return home because of his parents' reaction to him dropping out of school. He is staying at a hotel.

Of course, he considers himself an adult. Therefore, he decides to “have fun” first in a hotel night club, which does not work out, then by going to his older brother D.B.’s favorite night bar. On the way, he asks the taxi drivers the same question, completely stupid, the answer to which does not interest him. The young man, on the one hand, is drawn to people, he wants to be in contact with them, but on the other hand, he pushes away from them, seeing falsehood in their words and deeds. This is the main psychological problem of the main character of the novel “The Catcher in the Rye.” Reviews from American literary confirm this. At the hotel, a young man is tempted by the elevator operator's offer to buy a prostitute for a while. But when she arrived, she changed her mind. The girl and the elevator operator demand and take back double the agreed upon amount. He then leaves the hotel and leads the life of a tramp. He invites Sally Hayes to the theater, then goes with her to the skating rink. The girl does not share Holden Caulfield’s irritation with others and does not support his idea of ​​leaving home for a couple of weeks to go for a drive with him. In response, the young man insults her, and they part. Holden is tormented by contradictions: after getting drunk, he tries to apologize to Sally over the phone. Then he decides to see his sister Fabi, buys her a record, but accidentally breaks it. The illogical, impulsive actions of the main character determine the content of the novel “The Catcher in the Rye.” Reviews literary critics therefore, they are diametrically opposed: from admiration to rejection. Arriving home in the absence of his parents, he feels complete understanding on the part of his sister; she lends him her saved money. It is at this moment, at the first meeting with Fabi, Holden Coldfield tells her who he wants to become in this world - a catcher of defenseless and naive children wandering blindly in the rye and risking accidentally falling into the abyss.

He decides to live with his former teacher Mr. Antolini, but his suspicion and impulsiveness again play with him cruel joke. The question arises: who, strictly speaking, is the main character? Or do hypothetical children find themselves in a dangerous situation, i.e. “the catcher in the rye”? Reviews from the Americans themselves are unanimous - the main character of the novel is in trouble. A purely American template comes into play in his mind - “go to the West and start there with clean slate" Holden informs his sister about this plan. She appears with a suitcase and declares that she will go with her brother. Now it's Caulfield's turn to hold her back. In the scene of Fabia spinning on the carousel in the rain and admiring this spectacle of her brother, the plot of the novel ends. This was enough to buy real estate and settle in provincial Corniche (New Hampshire). Here the writer lived as a recluse for the next sixty years of his life allotted to him by God after writing “The Catcher in the Rye.” Literary critics' reviews of subsequent works are becoming more and more restrained. Why did this happen? Perhaps he became withdrawn because he initially expected a different reaction to the novel, a more practical one. After all, he revealed the real ulcers of the education and upbringing system, why, having recognized the novel, did society not turn its face to eliminating them? Unfortunately, his works written later could not achieve the success destined for The Catcher in the Rye (the American title of the novel). Perhaps his triumph overtook him because in the novel he wrote about his youth, weaving in the emotions, memories, and impressions he experienced.

The book “The Catcher in the Rye” is recommended for reading by teenagers. She was even included in the top 100 best novels written in the 20th century. Many parents are interested in what the popular story is about. book "The Catcher in the Rye". Is it possible to give it to your child, since the work has often been criticized for its rude language?

Initially, the novel was addressed to middle-aged people, but then the book became popular among young people. The work greatly influenced the culture of the 20th century. As a result, the novel was translated into almost all existing languages.

Catcher in the Rye: summary

His story tells of the events of last winter, which led him to a deplorable state. The young man almost died, but now his health has improved. He hopes to return home soon. Holden tells the story of events that took place in the December days of 1949.

It all starts with the young man leaving school, the last day of which is accompanied by loud conflicts. Due to Holden's fault, the fencing match did not take place. The young man was a captain, but he forgot all the necessary equipment in the subway. But this is not all the events of the ill-fated day.

The guy manages to get into a fight with his friend because of something done incorrectly homework. As a result, Holden is expelled from school for poor academic performance. Unfortunately, this is not the first case.

The guy dropped out of several more educational institutions. They all seemed fake to him. He called them "lindens." It’s not just schools that irritate the young man. He doesn’t like all the people he communicates with, but he doesn’t want to be alone either.

In the end, Holden ends up in his native New York. He would like to return to his parents, but does not do this because he is afraid to tell about the fact that he was expelled from school. He ends up staying at a hotel.

A young man thinks for a long time about what he should do, and then decides to have fun in a nightclub. They don't sell him alcohol, so he goes to the bar. Nothing good happens in the new place either, so Holden returns to the hotel, where another thing is happening. unpleasant story. The young man has to leave this place and become homeless.

The guy decides to go to the West and start everything from scratch there, but he is stopped by his younger sister, with whom he goes to the zoo together. There, a little girl visits the attractions, and a young man admires her. This is how the book “The Catcher in the Rye” ends.

“The abyss into which you are flying is a terrible abyss, dangerous. Anyone who falls into it will never feel the bottom. He falls, falls endlessly. This happens to people who, at some point in their lives, began to look for something that their usual environment could not give them. Or rather, they thought that they could not find anything for themselves in their familiar environment. And they stopped looking. They stopped looking without even trying to find anything.”

Description of the book "The Catcher in the Rye"

He has not the slightest respect for the rich, the powerful, the famous, for all the cool players in the cruel game that they call life and which, as it seems to them, they play according to all the rules. Thirteen-year-old Holden among them is a clear “bastard.” Involuntarily or by calling, Mazil, who is fed up with everything, and the whole game seems “totally phony.” The cry of the protagonist’s soul cannot leave anyone indifferent, and his sarcasm, like a sharp sting, does not spare anyone or anything. After all, even an adult sometimes so wants to be away from unnecessary stupid conversations, to pretend to be a deaf-mute unfortunate fool, and let everyone “leave him alone.” This novel is about this, full of sadness, anxiety and tenderness. A book of great courage, great love. Translation from English by T. Wright-Kovaleva.

Description added by user:

Marina Sergeeva

"The Catcher in the Rye" - plot

The novel is written from the perspective of seventeen-year-old Holden Caulfield, who is being treated in a clinic (due to tuberculosis): he tells about the story that happened to him last winter and preceded his illness. The events it narrates unfold in the pre-Christmas days of December 1949. The young man's memories begin from the day he left the Pansy closed school, from where he was expelled for poor academic performance.

In the morning, Holden contacts his girlfriend Sally Hayes and invites her to the theater, to a play with Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne. After that, he leaves the hotel, checks his luggage into the storage room and goes to have breakfast. In a restaurant, he meets two nuns, one of whom is a literature teacher, and discusses with them the books he has read, in particular, Romeo and Juliet. After breakfast, he goes to the music store, hoping to buy some younger sister a record with a song he liked called "Little Shirley Beans", and on the way he hears some a little boy sings: “If you caught someone in the rye in the evening...” The boy’s song lifts his mood a little, he thinks about calling Jane Gallagher, of whom he keeps the warmest and most reverent memories, but puts off this idea for later. The performance he goes to with Sally, however, disappoints him; he notes acting skills Lantov, but believes that they are playing for show, and besides, he is irritated by the “foppish” audience. Following the performance, he goes with Sally to the skating rink, and after that he “breaks through”: he impulsively confesses to Sally his disgust for school and everything that surrounds him. He ends up insulting Sally, who leaves in tears, despite his belated attempts to apologize. After this, Holden tries to call Jane, but no one answers the phone, and he has nothing better to do and goes to the cinema, although the film turns out, in his opinion, to be very fake. Towards evening, he meets his acquaintance Carl Lewis, an arrogant student who considers Holden too childish and, in response to his outpourings, advises him only to make an appointment with a psychoanalyst. Holden is left alone, gets drunk and heads to Central Park to check what really happens to the ducks in winter, but on the way he breaks the record he bought for his sister. In the end, he still decides to go home. By a happy coincidence, there is no one at home except my sister herself, Phoebe; she, however, soon realizes that her older brother was expelled from school, and is very upset about this. Holden shares with her his dream, inspired by a song he overheard before the performance (Phoebe notices that it is a distorted poem by Robert Burns):

You see, I imagined how little children played in the evening in a huge field, in the rye. Thousands of kids, and around - not a soul, not a single adult except me. And I’m standing on the very edge of the cliff, over the abyss, you know? And my job is to catch the kids so they don’t fall into the abyss. You see, they are playing and don’t see where they are running, and then I run up and catch them so that they don’t fall off. That's all my work. Guard the guys over the abyss in the rye. I know this is nonsense, but this is the only thing I really want. I'm probably a fool.

Here the parents return home; Holden hides and, after waiting for the right moment, leaves the apartment, as he is not ready to meet them. He goes to spend the night with his literature teacher, Mr. Antolini, who lives with his wife “in a very luxurious apartment in Sutton Place.” Mr. Antolini warmly greets the young man and discusses his problems with him, although he is too tired to ponder the teacher’s advice. At night, Holden wakes up to Mr. Antolini stroking his head and, frightened - he decides that the teacher is trying to “stick to” him - he hurriedly packs his things. He comes up with the idea of ​​going to the West and pretending to be deaf and dumb. He writes a note to his sister asking her to meet him before he leaves so that he can give her the money he borrowed from her. Phoebe, however, having learned about her brother’s plans, demands to take her with him; he stubbornly disagrees, but in the end, seeing how upset the girl is, he decides to abandon his idea. To finally reconcile with his little sister, he takes her to the Central Park Zoo. Brother and sister discover that, despite the season, there is a carousel in the park; Seeing that the girl clearly wants to ride, Holden persuades her to sit on the carousel, although she considers herself too big for this and is a little shy. The novel ends with a description of a carousel spinning under a sudden downpour: Holden admires his little sister and finally feels happy. In a short epilogue, Holden sums up the whole story and briefly describes the events that followed it.

Story

The first predecessors of The Catcher in the Rye were Salinger's early stories, many of which outlined themes that the writer later raised in the novel. While studying at Columbia University, he wrote the story “Young Guys,” one of the heroines of which was described by researchers as “a barely outlined prototype of Sally Hayes.” In November 1941, a short story entitled "A Minor Riot on Madison Avenue" was written, which later became the seventeenth chapter of the novel: it describes Holden's fight with Sally after the skating rink and his meeting with Carl Lewis. A Little Riot on Madison Avenue was Salinger's first work to feature a character named Holden Caulfield. Another story, entitled "I'm Crazy," contains sketches of two episodes from The Catcher in the Rye (Holden's farewell to his history teacher and his conversation with the mother of one of his classmates on the way from school to New York); its main character is also named Holden Caulfield. In the story "The Day Before Goodbye" (1944), the main character John Gladwaller is visited by his friend, Vincent Caulfield, who talks about his younger brother Holden, "who was kicked out of school a hundred times." From the story it follows that Holden served in the army and went missing when he was not even 20 years old. In 1949, The New Yorker accepted for publication a ninety-page manuscript authored by Salinger, whose main character was again Holden Caulfield, but the writer himself later withdrew the text. The final version of the novel was published by Little, Brown and Company in 1951.

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Yulia Olegina

Not completely...

May all admirers of this incomparably great book forgive me, but I did not find in it what I was looking for. The fact is that I myself am now at an age that is not far from Holden. And what? Are his problems close to me? No, I didn't have this problem. Are there really teenagers now who sit all night in night bars, thinking about who and when to go to bed with or how much they can call a “girl for the night” for? Maybe it's too bold a statement, but that's not what they're thinking about at that age. They think about more serious things: about first love, about family, about career. I don’t know, of course, the way of life of Americans, but for myself and for Russian teenagers I will say: “The book is not about us!” The book is worth reading as an explanation of the psychology and actions of children or to compare nations. No more. Once again I apologize for my such disapproving judgments. Perhaps I didn't understand something...

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6 / 7

Vera Happy

Jump in place

Catching children over the abyss, abandoning the rotten parental value system, looking for new meaning, to build the great and eternal - yes, Salinger writes about this beautifully. But how can I react to these lofty speeches, knowing that the author himself did not become the main character, but hid his head in the sand, closing himself off from the outside world in the bedroom? Like Bradbury's great-grandmother, Salinger lay down and died very young. And it doesn’t matter that his coma lasted for sixty years - for the children who play in the rye, Salinger simply died. Instead of organizing the beatniks, he allowed them to form a herd, find paths to drugs and sex, and jump into a coma after their idol. The cruelty of this book is obvious to me, because it is about the hopeless reality that prevails around. Yes, the world is wretched, gray and unpleasant, but this became even more noticeable after the flash of this book illuminated the world, but went out, not allowing us to properly see our surroundings in order to find a way out of the dead end, turn around and wander through the rye. field in the opposite direction.

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0 / 0

Future sailors

People are always ruining everything for you

A touching story about the conflicting feelings overwhelmed by the main character, the incomparable Holden Caulfield. A hymn to teenage rebellion. A guy so kind and so confused, looking for his path and his place in the world, a bit of a misanthrope, invariably evokes sympathy. To be honest, I prefer Michael Dylan Raskin's "Little Bastard of New York" because... I read this book first, but “The Abyss...” is undoubtedly also in the TOP 10 of my favorite books. This is the same universe of desperate outsiders and rejection of the world. Romance, dreams, daydreams and immersion in your inner world- sometimes it is difficult to break with childhood and past ideals and enter into the struggle for survival in the cruel world of adults, realizing that everything that was taught good must be forgotten and other feelings must be cultivated - cynicism and rigidity, growing teeth and claws. But people like Holden will forever remain irreconcilable fighters for their inner freedom, even if this struggle is obviously doomed to defeat.

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1 / 0

Daria

I only managed to read the book the second time. More than a year ago I started reading, but then I didn’t like the language in which the book was written, it was kind of harsh and rude. Then I didn’t understand at all why my friends praised this book so much. So I abandoned it, but for some reason this book haunted me, and I decided to read it anyway.

And you know, I even regretted that I had not read it earlier. Nothing really happens in the book, but it’s still interesting to read. It doesn’t matter how old you are, everyone has moments like this when you just want to escape from reality, hide somewhere far away and wait out the storm. Which is exactly what Holden does. He runs, each time to a new place, but each time it turns out to be the same as the previous one: deceitful, dirty and simply hateful for the main character. The whole book was read with this hatred from the beginning to the very end. Holden hates absolutely everything and himself too. He tries to find at least someone who could understand him, but people are either too busy with themselves or just look at him like he's crazy. It's terribly hard to look for those who need you, who you can catch in the rye, and who can catch you.

Ideas about escapes and all sorts of ridiculous plans for the future are, in my opinion, utter nonsense that can only occur to a teenager, but we are all in this: in delusional plans, with a lot of ambitions, in a constant search for ourselves and those who share your views. It is very important to find what you really like and devote your life to it.

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1 / 0

Zaira Teunova

I guess I read too much positive feedback about this novel before I took it on, and therefore expected a real revelation, which I personally did not see. But I still liked the book: it was very easy to read and quite interesting.

Main character in the novel - Holden Caulfield, a young man of 16 years old, who was expelled from another school. He cannot find a place for himself in the world around him, cannot accept it as he is, when all the norms of behavior raise a storm within him, and in every gesture, in every word he feels false, “linden.” Such a keen perception of reality prevents him from becoming part of society. And he seeks, as best he can, his own path in life, not wanting to submit to the principles.

Probably, Holden most of all wanted to be understood. Therefore, the book will be very useful for modern “Holdens” - high school students who, like our rebel, are at a crossroads and do not know which path to take.

Jerome Salinger's work is popular today all over the world, in a number of countries it is even included in the mandatory school curriculum. But the most big influence The book “The Catcher in the Rye” had an impact on the youth of the twentieth century. Reviews from the moment the novel was published until today there were a wide variety: from delight to prohibitions. It is this controversial work that our article will be devoted to.

History of creation

The predecessors of the novel were stories that already raised themes that were later more thoroughly explored in the work “The Catcher in the Rye.” Reviews from critics indicate that some stories even became parts of the novel. Thus, the essay “Slight Riot on Madison Avenue” turned into the seventeenth chapter of the new work. It was in this story that a character named Holden Caulfield first appeared.

Another story, entitled “Crazy,” contains outlines of two scenes from the novel: a farewell to a history teacher and a conversation with the parents of one of his classmates. In 1949, Salinger brought a manuscript to the editor, the main character of which was also Holden Caulfield, but it was never published - the author took it away. And only in 1951 it was published final version works.

“The Catcher in the Rye”: summary

The novel begins with teenager Holden Caulfield addressing the reader. He promises to tell one story, not quite an ordinary one, that happened to him last Christmas. The boy will not describe his biography in detail or discuss his parents, who prefer not to stir up “dirty laundry.”

Holden himself this moment stays in a sanatorium in Hollywood, not far from where his older brother D.B. lives.

Expulsion from school

It is surprising that the book was originally intended for an adult audience, despite the main character that Salinger chose. "Catcher in the rye" ( summary is just beginning) tells the story of an American teenager who studied at closed school Pansy, located in Pennsylvania.

For a time, Holden was captain of the fencing team, but he was expelled from school when he failed four subjects. And so, before leaving home, Caulfield watches the football game and says goodbye to memorable places. The only teacher he comes to talk to at last is the old history teacher Spencer.

An old man sick with the flu is dissatisfied with his student, asks him about the reasons for his exclusion, scolds him for disdain To own life. Caulfield doesn't like Spencer, and he's already starting to regret that he decided to say goodbye to him. Listening to the old man's moral teachings, the boy remembers how he left Elkton Hill School. He didn’t like it there because everything was done for show.

Dormitory

Perhaps it is the simplicity and ingenuousness of the image that so captivates readers in the novel “The Catcher in the Rye.” The summary is aimed at describing the actions and thoughts of an ordinary American teenager who is trying to establish a dialogue with life.

Holden returns to the school dormitory. In his room, he takes out the book “In the Wilds of Africa” and begins to read it. A nasty high school student named Robert Ackley comes to see him, both internally and externally (with acne all over his face and rotten teeth). He came in to ask for nail clippers. Holden looks up from his book and says that Ackley's roommate Stradlater disgusts him because the other day he mocked the main character and asked him to brush his teeth at least occasionally.

Stradlater comes into the room and shoos Ackley away, and he goes into the bathroom to shave. Holden follows him. They chat, in conversation Stradlater gradually turns to educational topic and asks the main character to write for him English essay. Stradlater himself does not have time to do this - he goes on a date with a girl named Jane Gallagher. This news makes Holden excited - he has known this girl for a long time, they once lived next door and were best friends.

Lunch passes and Caulfield, Ackley and friends set off for Egerstown. Evening comes and Holden starts writing an essay. The assignment was to describe the room, but instead he describes the baseball mitt of his brother Allie, who died of blood cancer.

Stradlater returns from a date. Holden asks how it went. When the neighbor starts talking about how he squeezed the girl in the car, the main character gets angry. An argument breaks out and the boys start a fight, which results in Holden's broken nose. The bleeding was so severe that the teenager's face and pajamas were covered in blood.

The escape

In his novel, Salinger describes feelings that are quite close to every teenager. “The Catcher in the Rye,” the summary can confirm this, refers to that stage of life when a person is especially susceptible to emotional outbursts, a feeling of loneliness, and a feeling of hostility from the world around him.

Holden goes to Ackley's room and lies down on the bed. He can't help but think about what happened between Stradlater and Jane. These visions continue to torment Holden, and he comes to the decision to leave here for New York.

The teenager boards the train, next to him is the mother of Ernest Morrow, whom the main character considers one of the most disgusting students at Pansy. However, he does not tell Mrs. Morrow about this; on the contrary, all the way Holden describes how kind, modest and well-mannered her son is.

NY

This article cannot cover all the nuances, since the described content of the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” is brief. Reviews, however, can be compiled based on it.

So, our hero arrives in New York and checks into the Egmont Hotel. Having settled down, he decides to call an acquaintance - Fay Cavendish. Holden invites her to have a cocktail, but the girl refuses, explaining that she is tired and wants to sleep. The young man hangs up and begins to remember his little ten-year-old sister Phoebe. He even wants to call her at home, but is afraid that her parents might answer the phone.

Holden goes to the first floor of the hotel in the “Lilac” room. Here a young man tries to order a whiskey and soda, but the waiter refuses to serve him because he is underage. Then the hero notices a pretty blonde of about thirty, whom he invites to dance. The woman agrees, they start dancing, Holden finds out that he came from Seattle and that her name is Bernice. She dances wonderfully, but is absolutely unable to carry on a conversation.

Bernice is not alone here, she has two friends with her - Laverne and Marty. Both are also good, but they dance worse. It turns out that the trio are simply obsessed with celebrities, and especially with actors. And today they came here precisely to see some Hollywood star.

The restaurant closes and new friends leave. Holden is left alone in the hall, once again overcome by memories. Here he and Jane are playing checkers, now she is crying, and he is kissing her face, and now they are going to the cinema, where the girl tenderly stroked the hero’s head.

Holden decides to go to a tavern owned by the black Ernie, who plays the piano masterfully. The young man hails a taxi and talks with the driver on the way, trying to find out what happens to the ducks living in Central Park in winter, because the lake freezes. The taxi driver finds the conversation unpleasant, but he continues to support it, gradually trying to change the subject.

Many criticized the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” for being too frank. Reviews even modern readers are guilty of this. Meanwhile, it is necessary to pay tribute to the author, who described reality without embellishment.

In Ernie, our hero meets Lillian Simmons in the company of a naval officer. This girl once dated his brother D.B. Holden becomes uncomfortable with such a neighborhood and leaves. Finding himself on the street, the young man wanders, not knowing where, thinking about his cowardice.

Holden returns to the hotel, where the elevator operator offers him to take the girl for the night. Surprised, Holden agrees in surprise. Returning to the room, the young man begins to get nervous - he has never been with a woman before, and the courtesan is about to arrive.

Here he comes to the room young girl Sunny. Holden refuses her services, tries to talk to her and eventually pays the money the elevator operator assigned - five dollars. The girl leaves. At dawn she returns with the elevator operator. The two of them begin extorting more money from Holden. The young man doesn’t want to give them anything, so the elevator operator grabs him, and Sunny takes money out of his wallet. Before leaving, the elevator operator hits Holden hard in the stomach for insulting him.

Wanderings

The actions of the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” continue to unfold (a summary of the chapters continues). Holden wakes up in the morning and immediately calls Sally Hayes, his girlfriend, and arranges to meet at the theater.

Then he checks out of the hotel and goes to Central Station, where he has breakfast not far from two nuns. Over the meal, a conversation begins between them, Holden donates ten dollars to charity.

When breakfast is over, the young man calls Jane, who is not at home. After this, in the hope of meeting Phoebe, he goes to the park. But his little sister is not there, and the hero wanders thoughtlessly through the streets.

In the evening, Holden and Sally go to a performance, after which they go for a walk. In a small cafe, the hero invites Sally to run away with him, but the girl refuses. After this, the couple argues.

The next day, Holden meets with high school student Carl Lewis, who was once his tutor. The guys drink several glasses of martinis, an old acquaintance talks about his life with a thirty-year-old sculptor. When Karl leaves, Holden gets drunk alone.

Homecoming

At one time, Jerome Salinger caused a lot of controversy with his work (“The Catcher in the Rye”). The reviews were diametrically opposed, some admired the book, others mercilessly scolded it, the only thing that the novel did not cause was indifference.

Holden decides to sneak home to talk to Phoebe without his parents noticing. The young man enters the house and finds his sister sleeping in D.B.’s office. and wakes you up. Waking up, the girl talks about the school performance that will take place on Christmas, and retells the film she recently watched. And then Phoebe realizes that Holden has flunked out of another school again. Then the young man begins to explain that it was unbearable at Pansy. Phoebe is outraged and tells her brother that he doesn't like anything at all. The brother and sister dance to the music and chat until Holden leaves because his parents have returned.

Mr. Antolini

The novel “The Catcher in the Rye” is coming to an end. A summary, reviews (presented in more detail below) and personal impressions can already contribute to the formation of a personal opinion regarding the book.

Holden goes to visit his old teacher Mr. Antolini, to whom he tells about his failures in former school. The teacher finds no advice for the young man, but fears that he is rushing towards an abyss that could swallow him. The young man stays overnight in the teacher's apartment. But at night he wakes up because Antolini was stroking his head. Calling the old man a psycho, Holden leaves and spends the night at the station.

The next morning the hero goes for a walk around the city and decides to go to the West. Phoebe is nearby, who also wants to be with him. The young man calms his sister down, and they go for a walk together. It starts to rain, Holden gets wet, then falls ill, and his parents send him to a sanatorium to recover.

“The Catcher in the Rye”: reviews

After its release and initial popularity, the book began to be condemned in every possible way. The persecution began in 1961 and continued until 1982. There were many reasons for this attitude:

• the novel's language has been called "crude";
• inappropriate and explicit conversations about sex;
• many critics called the main character a bad example for the younger generation.

The book “The Catcher in the Rye” caused a storm of emotions in the twentieth century. Reviews from critics mainly boiled down to the fact that the novel was called propaganda of drunkenness, rebellion, violence and debauchery. But the strict ban led to a completely opposite result; the book began to enjoy unprecedented popularity among young people.

It is noteworthy that despite the tendency to include works in the basic school curriculum, some countries and individual educational establishments they still exclude the novel from the lists of recommended literature.

As for the opinions of modern readers, they are just as contradictory as they were half a century ago. Some talk about the incredible positive impact, what the book had on them, while others see in it just a description of the infantile suffering of a not very smart teenager.

Autobiography in a novel

Many note that the work “The Catcher in the Rye” (D. Salinger) turned out to be largely biographical. Reviews of critics and biographers of the author agree that the prototype of Holden’s family was the family of the writer himself. And in the image of the main character’s brother D.B. Salinger himself is guessed, who also visited the war and participated in the 1945 landing in Normandy.

What the writer has in common with his hero is that he himself was the captain of the fencing team at school.

Idea

Let us now turn to the idea that Salinger put into his creation. “The Catcher in the Rye” (analysis and content confirm this) is a work dedicated to teenage worldview. This attitude is especially evident in relation to lies. The main character does not accept it in any form: moral standards, events, people, objects. It is against all these manifestations of lies that the rebellion of the protagonist, who cannot come to terms with it, is directed.

Tragedy

Depicts a situation in which the hero can no longer avoid conflict with the world, Jerome D. Salinger. “The Catcher in the Rye,” reviews of many critics have noted this, is a novel based on a tragic and unbearable collision of a person with reality. And what is noteworthy is that Holden’s rebellion does not result in open confrontation with the system. No, the young man is not ready to fight, he just wants to escape and find a quiet, cozy corner for himself, where the evil and deceitful reality does not touch him. It is in these contradictory thoughts and actions of the protagonist that the tragedy of the novel lies.

The image of the main character

So, after getting acquainted with the novel “The Catcher in the Rye” (summary, analysis), you can move on to considering the image of the main character. So, this is a seventeen-year-old boy with normal behavior for this age. He is impulsive, reckless, and prone to idealism. All his actions and words are as frank as possible, he does not lie and acts in accordance with the dictates of his heart.

Holden has a hard time finding mutual language with adults who only want to teach, but will never notice if you behave like an adult. Thinking about such things leads the hero to the conclusion that people do not notice anything around them at all. But what is most disgusting about those around them is their desire to be different, to try to seem different from who they really are. That is why he is so drawn to his younger sister, endowed with childish ingenuousness and directness.

Conclusion

Thus, the novel that Salinger created turned out to be very ambiguous and multifaceted. “The Catcher in the Rye” (reviews and summary confirm this idea) largely raises questions related to the very nature of man, with his internal contradictions, especially pronounced in adolescence.