Holden Caufield?

[FDRrocks]

What was he?

[BigMcLargehuge]

1. also the half subject of one of my favorite songs

William Holden Caulfield by Too Much Joy

william holden caulfield
it was no compliment
what's wrong with
william holden caulfield
all that stuff that bummed me out ten years ago
still bugs me today, and boy i wanna know
who died and made you my mom and me some stupid kid
how can you forget all those things we did
so keep on sleeping on
till your hair is grey
when I turn eighty
i better feel this way
i'm afraid of people who like _catcher_in_the_rye_
yeah, i like it too, but someone tell me why
people he'd despise say i feel like that guy
i don't wanna grow up 'cause i don't wanna die
when i'm thirty-one
then keep living on
for fifty more years
i respect the man in _sunset_boulevard_
got a heart somewhere just won't let down his guard
doesn't trust happiness or the bad luck that it brings
he's lonely and he's cold and he's proud of these things
i said i'm cold
and i'm lonely
i'm proud of these things 

[Zomby Woof]

2. flame me if you want

But Salinger is the most overrated "great author" America produced in the 20th century - well, alongside Hemingway that is.

Disaffected, smug, adolescent alienation is the reason this book has had sustained popularity. I can see why many teens love this book, thinking that they were the only ones to ever feel that way before. But when a person hits 20 or so, they should be embarrassed they ever thought this was a great book. 25 at the latest.

Far better for that age group is S.E. Hinton's "The Outsiders." There's real humanity in how those adolescents are portrayed. There's an entire palate of emotions the characters display, instead of the monochromatic cynicism masked as sophistication emanating from Caufield.

[Guaranteed]

3. It's a very powerful book, though.

There's something about the way that he wrote it that stays with you. Yeah, it's juvenile, hardly "fine literature," but I swear to God I was SO pissed at the world for two weeks after reading that book. I have no idea how it did that to me, but it did.

Very, very powerful. I actually tell people NOT to read it, because it's unhealthy.

On edit: I tell em to read One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest instead- I see it as the "good" alter-ego of Catcher.

[Zomby Woof]

5. I am sure we agree on one thing

I love Kesey's "One Flew Over The Cuckoo's Nest" to the extreme. The only novel I have read more than twice, and it is never the same each time, as my life's experiences change.

[wtmusic]

4. Yep, "me against the world" syndrome

Franny and Zooey is the same (well at least the first half--never quite made it to the end of that one)

[southerngirlwriter]

6. right on!

I've rarely met anyone who shares my disdain for Hemingway (or Salinger, either, for that matter).

Here's my favorite chicken joke. Someone asked Hemingway, "Why did the chicken cross the road?"

His answer:

"To die. In the rain."


:evilgrin:

[Zomby Woof]

7. I remember that one!

There was a whole set of them. My favorite was the Groucho Marx one:

"Chicken? What's all this talk about chicken? My uncle thought he was a chicken once. My aunt would have divorced him, but she needed the eggs." :D

[southerngirlwriter]

8. good one!

And now I am going to sleep (I hope).

Goodnight, ZombyWoof!! :hug: