Socialism: Utopian and Scientific

{{Redirect|Catcher in the Rye|the song|Chinese Democracy}}
{{Infobox
| name =The Catcher in the Rye
| translator =
| image = [[File:Rye catcher.jpg|200px|]]
| image_caption = First edition cover
| author = [[J. D. Salinger]]
| illustrator =
| cover_artist = E. Michael Mitchell<ref>{{cite web|url=http://calarts.edu/news/11-sep-2009/calartsremembersbelovedanimationinstructoremichaelmitchell |title=CalArts Remembers Beloved Animation Instructor E. Michael Mitchell |publisher=Calarts.edu |date= |accessdate=2010-01-30}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.onlineuniversities.com/blog/2010/01/judging-the-book-50-most-captivating-covers-of-all-time/ |title=50 Most Captivating Covers |publisher=Onlineuniversities.com |date= |accessdate=2010-01-30}}</ref>
| country = United States
| language = [[English language|English]]
| series =
| genre = [[Novel]]
| publisher = [[Little, Brown and Company]]
| release_date = 1951
| media_type = Print ([[Hardcover|Hardback]] & [[Paperback]])
| pages = 214 pp
| isbn = 0-316-76953-3
| oclc= 287628
}}


'''''The Catcher in the Rye''''' is a [[1951 in literature|1951]] [[novel]] by [[J. D. Salinger]].<ref>Los Angeles Times, Jan. 29, 2010. http://www.latimes.com/features/books/la-et-salinger29-2010jan29,0,578438.story</ref> Originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage confusion, [[angst]], alienation, language,<ref>Costello, Donald P., and Harold Bloom. "The Language of "The Catcher in the Rye.." Bloom's Modern Critical Interpretations: The Catcher in the Rye (2000): 11-20. Literary Reference Center. EBSCO. Web. 1 Dec. 2010.</ref> and rebellion.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-28671475_ITM
| title = Famous Firsts. (young-adult literature)
| author = Michael hi
| work = [[Booklist]]
| date = 2000-11-15
| accessdate = 2007-12-20
}}</ref> It has been translated into almost all of the [[world language|world's major languages]].<ref>{{cite book |last=Magill |first=Frank N. |title=Magill's Survey of American Literature |chapter=J. D. Salinger |year=1991 |publisher=Marshall Cavendish Corporation |location=New York|isbn=1-85435-437-X |page = 1803}}</ref>
Around 250,000 copies are sold each year, with total sales of more than 65 million.<ref>According to [[List of best-selling books]]. An earlier article says more than 20 million: {{cite news
| url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43680-2004Oct18.html
| title = J. D. Salinger's Holden Caulfield, Aging Gracelessly
| author = [[Jonathan Yardley]]
| work = [[The Washington Post]]
| date = 2004-10-19
| accessdate = 2007-01-21
}}</ref> The novel's [[protagonist]] and [[antihero]], [[Holden Caulfield]], has become an icon for teenage rebellion.<ref>Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Allusions By Elizabeth Webber, Mike Feinsilber p.105</ref>

The novel was included on ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]'''s 2005 list of the 100 best English-language novels written since 1923,<ref>{{cite news
| url= http://www.time.com/time/2005/100books/the_complete_list.html
| title=All-Time 100 Novels: The Complete List |work=Time |first=Lev |last=Grossman |coauthors=Richard Lacayo |year=2005}}</ref> and it was named by [[Modern Library]] and its readers as one of the [[Modern Library 100 Best Novels|100 best English-language novels of the 20th century]]. It has been [[List of most-commonly challenged books in the United States|frequently challenged]]<ref name="ALA" /><ref>List of most commonly challenged books from the list of the one hundred most important books of the 20th century by Radcliffe Publishing Course</ref><ref name="Guinn">{{cite news
| url = http://nl.newsbank.com/nl-search/we/Archives?p_product=ET&p_theme=et&p_action=search&p_maxdocs=200&p_topdoc=1&p_text_direct-0=0EDCAD301800C85B&p_field_direct-0=document_id&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D
| title = 'Catcher in the Rye' still influences 50 years later
| author = Jeff Guinn
| work = [[Erie Times-News]]
| date = 2001-08-10
| accessdate = 2007-12-18
| format = fee required
}} [http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-6739335_ITM Alternate URL]</ref> in the United States and other countries for its liberal use of [[profanity]] and portrayal of [[Human sexuality|sexuality]] and [[Adolescence|teenage]] angst. It also deals with complex issues of [[Identity (social science)|identity]], belonging, connection, and alienation.

== Plot summary ==
The majority of the novel takes place in December 1949.  The story commences with [[Holden Caulfield]] describing encounters he has had with students and faculty of Pencey Prep in Agerstown, Pennsylvania. He criticizes them for being superficial, or, as he would say, "phony." After being expelled from the school for his poor academic performance, Holden packs up and leaves the school in the middle of the night after a physical altercation with his roommate. He takes a train to New York but does not want to return to his family and instead checks into the dilapidated Edmont Hotel. There, he spends an evening dancing with three tourist girls and has a clumsy encounter with a young [[prostitute]] named Sunny.<ref>"The Catcher in the Rye Characters." Dead Caulfields. Web. 23 June 2010.</ref> His attitude toward the prostitute changes the minute she enters the room. Holden becomes uncomfortable with the situation, and when he tells her that all he wants to do is talk, she becomes annoyed with him and leaves. However, he still pays her for her time. Sunny and Maurice, her [[pimp]], later return to Holden's hotel room and demand more money than was originally agreed upon. Despite the fact that Sunny takes five dollars from Holden's wallet, Maurice punches Holden in the stomach.

Holden calls up his old girlfriend, Sally Hayes, to invite her to see a musical.  Sally very excitedly agrees, and they meet for the play.  After the play Holden and Sally go skating, and while drinking coffee Holden impulsively invites Sally to run away with him, but she declines.  Her response deflates Holden's mood, which prompts a remark: "You give me a royal pain in the ass, if you want to know the truth" , he tells her, regretting it immediately.  Sally storms off as Holden follows, pleading with her to accept his apology. Finally, Holden gives up and leaves her there.
Holden spends a total of three days in the city, and this time is characterized largely by drunkenness and loneliness. At one point he ends up at a museum, where he contrasts his life with the statues of Eskimos on display. For as long as he can remember, the statues have been unchanging. These concerns may have stemmed largely from the death of his brother, Allie. Eventually, he sneaks into his parents' apartment while they are away, to visit his younger sister, Phoebe, who is nearly the only person with whom he seems to be able to communicate. Phoebe views Holden as a hero, and she is naively unaware that Holden's view of her is virtually identical. Holden shares a fantasy he has been thinking about (based on a mishearing of [[Robert Burns]]' ''[[Comin' Through the Rye]]''): he pictures himself as the sole guardian of numerous children running and playing in a huge [[rye]] field on the edge of a cliff. His job is to catch the children if they wander close to the brink; to be a "catcher in the rye." Although misinterpreted, Holden believes that to be a "catcher in the rye" means to save children from losing their innocence.

After leaving his parents' apartment, Holden then drops by to see a former, and much admired, English teacher, Mr. Antolini, in the middle of the night, and is offered advice on life and a place to sleep. Mr. Antolini tells Holden that it is the mark of the mature man who wants to live humbly for a cause, rather than die nobly for it. This rebukes Holden's ideas of becoming a "catcher in the rye," a heroic figure who symbolically saves children from "falling off a crazy cliff" and being exposed to the evils of adulthood. During the speech on life, Mr. Antolini has a number of "highballs," referring to a cocktail served in a [[highball glass]]. Holden is upset when he wakes up in the night to find Mr. Antolini patting his head in a way that he perceives as "flitty." There is much speculation on whether Mr. Antolini was making a sexual advance on Holden, and it is left up to the reader to decide whether this is true. Holden leaves and spends his last afternoon wandering the city. He later wonders if his interpretation of Mr. Antolini's actions was actually correct.

Holden makes the decision that he will head out west, and when he mentions these plans to his little sister, she decides she wants to go with him. Holden declines her offer and refuses to have her accompany him. This upsets Phoebe, so Holden does her a favor and decides not to leave after all. Holden tries to reverse her saddened mood by taking her to the [[Central Park Zoo]].  He realizes his mistakes as she rides the [[carousel]] that lies within the zoo. While watching Phoebe, Holden realizes that he can’t be the “Catcher in the Rye" and that he is in need of help. At the conclusion of the novel, Holden decides not to mention much about the present day, finding it inconsequential. He alludes to "getting sick" and living in a [[Psychiatric hospital|mental hospital]], and mentions that he'll be attending another school in September. Holden says that he has surprisingly found himself missing two of his former classmates, Stradlater and Ackley, and even Maurice the elevator operator/pimp. The last words of the novel are, "Don't ever tell anybody anything. If you do, you start missing everybody."

==Writing style==
''The Catcher in the Rye'' is written in a [[First-person narrative|subjective]] style from the point of view of its [[protagonist]], Holden Caulfield, following his exact thought process (a writing style known as [[Stream of consciousness (narrative mode)|stream of consciousness]]). There is flow in the seemingly disjointed ideas and episodes; for example, as Holden sits in a chair in his dorm, minor events such as picking up a book or looking at a table, unfold into discussions about experiences. Critical reviews agree that the novel accurately reflected the teenage [[colloquialism|colloquial]] speech of the time.<ref>{{cite journal
| title = The Language of 'The Catcher in the Rye'
| author = Donald P. Costello
| journal = American Speech
| volume = 34
| issue = 3
| pages = 172–182
| date = October 1959
| accessdate = 2007-12-20
| quote = Most critics who glared at ''The Catcher in the Rye'' at the time of its publication thought that its language was a true and authentic rendering of teenage colloquial speech.
| doi = 10.2307/454038
| publisher = American Speech, Vol. 34, No. 3
| jstor=454038
}}</ref>

==Interpretations==

Writer [[Bruce Brooks]] held that Holden's attitude remains unchanged at story's end, implying no maturation, thus differentiating the novel from [[young adult fiction]].<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.hbook.com/magazine/articles/2004/may04_brooks.asp
| title = Holden at sixteen
| author = [[Bruce Brooks]]
| work = [[Horn Book Magazine]]
| date = 2004-05-01
| accessdate = 2007-12-19
}}</ref>
In contrast, writer and academic [[Louis Menand]] thought that teachers assign the novel because of the optimistic ending, to teach adolescent readers that "alienation is just a phase."<ref name="Menand">{{cite news
| url = http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2001/10/01/011001fa_FACT3?currentPage=all
| title = Holden at fifty
| author = [[Louis Menand]]
| work = [[The New Yorker]]
| date = 2001-09-27
| accessdate = 2007-12-19
}}</ref> While Brooks maintained that Holden acts his age, Menand claimed that Holden thinks as an adult, given his ability to accurately perceive people and their motives such as when Phoebe states that she will go out west with Holden, and he immediately rejects this idea as ridiculous, much to Phoebe's disappointment. Others highlight the dilemma of Holden's state, in between adolescence and adulthood.<ref name="Onstad" /><ref>Graham, 33.</ref> While Holden views himself to be smarter than and as mature as adults, he is quick to become emotional. "I felt sorry as hell for..." is a phrase he often uses.<ref name="Onstad">{{cite news
| url = http://www.cbc.ca/arts/film/bartlett.html
| title = Beholden to Holden
| author = Katrina Onstad
| work = [[CBC News]]
| date = 2008-02-22
}}</ref>

Peter Beidler, in his ''A Reader's Companion to J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye"'', identifies the movie that the prostitute Sunny refers to in chapter 13 of ''The Catcher in the Rye''. She says that in the movie a boy falls off a boat. The movie is ''[[Captains Courageous (1937 film)|Captains Courageous]]'', starring [[Spencer Tracy]]. Sunny says that Holden looks like the boy who fell off the boat. Beidler shows (see p.&nbsp;28) a still of the boy, played by child-actor [[Freddie Bartholomew]].

The novel's philosophy has been negatively compared with that of [[Jean-Jacques Rousseau]].<ref>{{cite journal
| title = Kings in the Back Row: Meaning through Structure. A Reading of J. D. Salinger's ''The Catcher in the Rye''
| author = Carl F. Strauch
| journal = Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature
| volume = 2
| issue = 1
| pages = 5–30
| date = 1961
| accessdate = 2007-12-22
| doi = 10.2307/1207365
| last2 = Salinger
| publisher = Wisconsin Studies in Contemporary Literature, Vol. 2, No. 1
| jstor=1207365
}}</ref>{{Clarify|date=October 2010}}

Each Caulfield child has literary talent: D. B. writes screenplays in Hollywood; Holden also reveres D. B. for his writing skill (Holden's own best subject), but he also despises Hollywood industry-based movies, considering them the ultimate in "phony" as the writer has no space for his own imagination, and describes D. B.'s move to Hollywood to write for films as "prostituting himself"; Allie wrote poetry on his baseball glove; and Phoebe is a diarist.<ref name="Svougon">{{cite news
|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=9553015&site=ehost-live
| title = J.D. Salinger's The catcher in the Rye
| author = Margaret Dumais Svogun
| journal= Explicator
| volume=2
| issue= 2
| pages= 110–113
| date= Winter 2003
| accessdate= 2008-02-26
}}</ref>{{Failed verification|date=November 2010}}
This "catcher in the rye" is an analogy for Holden, who admires in kids attributes what he struggles to find in adults, like innocence, kindness, spontaneity, and generosity. Falling off the cliff could be a progression into the adult world that surrounds him and that he strongly criticizes. Later, Phoebe and Holden exchange roles as the "catcher" and the "fallen"; he gives her his hunting hat, the catcher's symbol, and becomes the fallen as Phoebe becomes the catcher.<ref name="Takeuchi">{{cite news
|url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=aph&AN=7592838&site=ehost-live
| title = The Burning Carousel and the Carnivalesque: Subversion and Transcendence at the Close of ''The Catcher in the Rye''
| author = Yasuhiro Takeuchi
| journal= Studies in the Novel
| volume=34
| issue= 3
| pages= 320–337
| date= Fall 2002
| accessdate= 2008-02-26
}}</ref>

==Reception==
''The Catcher in the Rye'' has been listed as one of the best novels of the 20th century. Shortly after its publication, writing for ''[[The New York Times]]'', Nash K. Burger called it "an unusually brilliant novel,"<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/13/specials/Ayn Rand-rye02.html
| title = Books of The Times
| author = Nash K. Burger
| work = [[The New York Times]]
| date = 1951-07-16
| accessdate = 2009-03-18
}}</ref> while James Stern wrote an admiring review of the book in a voice imitating Holden's.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/09/13/specials/salinger-rye01.html
| title = Aw, the World's a Crumby Place
| author = James Stern
| work = [[The New York Times]]
| date = 1951-07-15
| accessdate = 2009-03-18
}}</ref> 41st [[President of the United States|United States president]] [[George H.&nbsp;W. Bush]] called it "a marvelous book," listing it among the books that have inspired him.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/bus0int-1|title=Academy of Achievement&nbsp;— George H. W. Bush|work=The American Academy of Achievement&nbsp;– |accessdate=2009-06-05}}</ref> In June 2009, the [[BBC]]'s Finlo Rohrer wrote that, 58 years since publication, the book is still regarded "as the defining work on what it is like to be a teenager. Holden is at various times disaffected, disgruntled, alienated, isolated, directionless, and sarcastic."<ref name="finlo rohrer">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8084931.stm|title=The why of the Rye |last=Rohrer|first=Finlo|date=June 5, 2009|work=BBC News Magazine|publisher=BBC|accessdate=2009-06-05}}</ref> [[Adam Gopnik]] considers it one of the "three perfect books" in American literature, along with ''[[Adventures of Huckleberry Finn]]'' and ''[[The Great Gatsby]]'', and believes that "no book has ever captured a city better than ''Catcher in the Rye'' captured New York in the fifties."<ref>Gopnik, Adam. ''The New Yorker'', February 8, 2010, p. 21</ref>

Not all reception has been positive, however; the book has had its share of critics. Rohrer writes, "Many of these readers are disappointed that the novel fails to meet the expectations generated by the mystique it is shrouded in. J. D. Salinger has done his part to enhance this mystique. That is to say, he has done nothing."<ref name="finlo rohrer"/> Rohrer assessed the reasons behind both the popularity and criticism of the book, saying that it "captures existential teenage angst" and has a "complex central character" and "accessible conversational style"; while at the same time some readers may dislike the "use of 1940s New York vernacular," "self-obsessed central character," and "too much whining."<ref name="finlo rohrer"/>

==Controversy==
In 1960 a teacher was fired for assigning the novel in class; he was later reinstated.<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-18592168_ITM
| title = U. Connecticut: Banned Book Week celebrates freedom
| author = Fernando Dutra
| publisher = The America's Intelligence Wire
| date = 2006-09-25
| accessdate = 2007-12-20
| quote = In 1960 a teacher in Tulsa, Okla., was fired for assigning "Catcher in the Rye." After appealing, the teacher was reinstated, but the book was removed from the itinerary in the school.
}}</ref> Between 1961 and 1982, ''The Catcher in the Rye'' was the most censored book in high schools and libraries in the United States.<ref name="In Cold Fear review">{{cite news
| url = http://www.accessmylibrary.com/coms2/summary_0286-4139523_ITM
| title = In Cold Fear: 'The Catcher in the Rye', Censorship, Controversies and Postwar American Character. (Book Review)
| author =
| work = [[Modern Language Review]]
| date = 2003-04-01
| accessdate = 2007-12-19
}}</ref> In 1981 it was both the most censored book and the second most taught book in public schools in the United States.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/libr559f/03-04-wt2/projects/S_Andrychuk/Content/history_book_catcher.pdf
| title = A History of J.D. Salinger's ''The Catcher in the Rye''
| author = Sylvia Andrychuk
| publisher =
| date = 2004-02-17
| accessdate = 2007-12-19
| format = PDF
| page = 6
| quote = During 1981 ''The Catcher in the Rye'' had the unusual distinction of being the most frequently censored book in the United States, and, at the same time, the second-most frequently taught novel in American public schools.
|archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20070928072611/http://www.slais.ubc.ca/courses/libr559f/03-04-wt2/projects/S_Andrychuk/Content/history_book_catcher.pdf <!-- Bot retrieved archive --> |archivedate = 2007-09-28}}</ref> According to the [[American Library Association]], ''The Catcher in the Rye'' was the tenth most frequently [[Challenge (literature)|challenged]] book from 1990–1999.<ref name="ALA">{{cite web
| url =
http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/challengedbydecade/1990_1999/index.cfm
| title = The 100 most frequently challenged books: 1990–1999
| publisher = [[American Library Association]]
| accessdate = 2009-08-13
}}</ref> It was one of the ten most challenged books of 2005<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/21stcenturychallenged/2006/index.cfm
| title = Top ten most frequently challenged books of 2005
| publisher = [[American Library Association]]
| accessdate = 2010-09-27
}}</ref> and although it had been off the list for three years, it reappeared in the list of most challenged books of 2009.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://www.ala.org/ala/issuesadvocacy/banned/frequentlychallenged/21stcenturychallenged/2009/index.cfm
| title = Top ten most frequently challenged books of 2009
| publisher = [[American Library Association]]
| accessdate = 2010-09-27
}}</ref> The challenges generally begin with vulgar language<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.cjonline.com/stories/100697/snider.html
| title = Art or trash? It makes for endless, debate that cant be won
| work = [[The Topeka Capital-Journal]]
| date = 1997-10-06
| accessdate = 2007-12-20
| quote = Another perennial target, J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye," was challenged in Maine because of the "f" word.
}}</ref>,<ref name="Boron" /> with more general reasons including sexual references,<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,923-1792974,00.html
| title = The American banned list reveals a society with serious hang-ups
| author = Ben MacIntyre
| work = [[The Times]]
| date = 2005-09-24
| accessdate = 2007-12-20
| location=London
}}</ref> blasphemy, undermining of family values<ref name="Boron" /> and moral codes,<ref name="Frangedis">{{cite journal
| url = http://www.jstor.org/stable/818945
| title = Dealing with the Controversial Elements in ''The Catcher in the Rye''
| author = Helen Frangedis
| journal = The English Journal
| volume = 77
| issue = 7
| pages = 72–75
| date = November 1988
| accessdate = 2007-12-22
| quote = The foremost allegation made against ''Catcher'' is... that it teaches loose moral codes; that it glorifies... drinking, smoking, lying, promiscuity, and more.
| doi = 10.2307/818945
| publisher = The English Journal, Vol. 77, No. 7
}}</ref> Holden's being a poor role model,<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE7DE123EF934A35757C0A965958260
| title = Public & Private; The Breast Ban
| author = Anna Quindlen
| work = [[The New York Times]]
| date = 1993-04-07
| accessdate = 2007-12-20
| quote = "The Catcher in the Rye" is perennially banned because Holden Caulfield is said to be an unsuitable role model.
}}</ref> encouragement of rebellion,<ref>{{cite news
| url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B06E2DF1438F932A0575BC0A9659C8B63
| title = Banned, But Not Forgotten
| author = Yilu Zhao
| work = [[The New York Times]]
| date = 2003-08-31
| accessdate = 2007-12-20
| quote = ''The Catcher in the Rye,'' interpreted by some as encouraging rebellion against authority...
}}</ref> and promotion of drinking, [[smoking]], lying, and [[promiscuity]].<ref name="Frangedis" />
Often the challengers have been unfamiliar with the plot itself.<ref name="In Cold Fear review" /> Shelley Keller-Gage, a high school teacher who faced objections after assigning the novel in her class, noted that the challengers "are being just like Holden... They are trying to be catchers in the rye."<ref name="Boron">{{cite news
| url = http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C0CE1D7103CF930A3575AC0A96F948260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=2
| title = In a Small Town, a Battle Over a Book
| author = Seth Mydans
| work = [[The New York Times]]
| date = 1989-09-03
| accessdate = 2007-12-20
| page = 2
}}</ref> A reverse effect has been that this incident caused people to put themselves on the waiting list to borrow the novel, when there were none before.<ref name="Whitfield">{{cite journal|title=Cherished and Cursed: Toward a Social History of The Catcher in the Rye|author=Stephen Whitfield|journal=The New England Quarterly|volume=70|issue=4|month=December | year=1997|pages=567–600|doi=10.2307/366646|url=http://jstor.org/stable/366646|publisher=The New England Quarterly, Vol. 70, No. 4}}</ref>

[[Mark David Chapman]]'s [[Death of John Lennon|shooting of John Lennon]] (Chapman was arrested with his worn copy of the book, and inside, he had scribbled a note: This is my statement, From Holden Caulfield.), [[Robert John Bardo]]'s shooting of [[Rebecca Schaeffer]], and [[Arthur Bremer]]'s assassination attempt on [[George Wallace]] have also been [[Cultural references to the novel The Catcher in the Rye#Shootings|associated]] with the novel.<ref>{{cite web
| url = http://amarillo.com/stories/091000/boo_tellingondad.shtml
| title = Telling on Dad
| author = Linton Weeks
| publisher = [[Amarillo Globe-News]]
| date = 2000-09-10
| accessdate = 2011-2-12
}}</ref><ref name="Salon">{{cite web
| url = http://dir.salon.com/story/books/feature/2003/12/15/books_kill/index1.html
| title = When books kill
| author = Aidan Doyle
| publisher = [[Salon.com]]
| date = 2003-12-15
}}</ref>

In 2009 Salinger successfully sued to stop the U.S. publication of a novel that presents Holden Caulfield as an old man.<ref name="finlo rohrer"/><ref>{{cite news | url = http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/06/03/salinger.catcher.lawsuit/index.html | title = Lawsuit targets 'rip-off' of 'Catcher in the Rye'| author = Doug Gross | publisher = CNN
| date = 2009-06-03 | accessdate = 2009-06-03 }}</ref> The novel's author, [[Fredrik Colting]], commented, "call me an ignorant Swede, but the last thing I thought possible in the U.S. was that you banned books."<ref>Fogel, Karl. [http://questioncopyright.org/salinger_censors Looks like censorship, smells like censorship... maybe it IS censorship?]. ''QuestionCopyright.org''. 2009-07-07.</ref> The issue is complicated by the nature of Colting's book, ''60 Years Later: Coming Through the Rye'', which has been compared to [[fan fiction]].<ref name="sutherland">Sutherland, John. [http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/lifestyle/article-23704887-details/How+fanfic+took+over+the+web/article.do How fanfic took over the web] ''[[London Evening Standard]]''. Retrieved on 2009-07-22.</ref> Although commonly not authorized by writers, no legal action is usually taken<ref>Fan Fiction and a New Common Law'(1997)Rachel Tushnet, ''Loyola of Los Angeles Entertainment Law Journal'',. vol.17.
</ref> against fan fiction since it is rarely published commercially and thus involves no profit. Colting, however, has published his book commercially. Unauthorized fan fiction on ''The Catcher in the Rye'' existed on the Internet for years without any legal action taken by Salinger before his death.<ref name="sutherland" />

==Attempted adaptations==
Early in his career, J. D. Salinger expressed a willingness to have his work adapted for the screen.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hamilton |first=Ian |authorlink=Ian Hamilton (critic) |title=In Search of J. D. Salinger |year=1988 |publisher=Random House |location=New York |isbn=0-394-53468-9}} p. 75.</ref> However, in [[1949 in film|1949]], a critically panned film version of his short story "[[Uncle Wiggily in Connecticut]]" was released; renamed ''[[My Foolish Heart (film)|My Foolish Heart]]'' and taking great liberties with Salinger's plot, the film is widely considered to be among the reasons that Salinger refused to allow any subsequent movie adaptations of his work.<ref name="Onstad"/><ref name="berg">Berg, A. Scott. ''Goldwyn: A Biography''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1989. ISBN 1-57322-723-4. p. 446.</ref> The enduring popularity of ''The Catcher in the Rye'', however, has resulted in repeated attempts to secure the novel's screen rights.<ref>See Dr. Peter Beidler's A'' Reader's Companion to J. D. Salinger's the Catcher in the Rye'', Chapter 7.</ref>

When ''The Catcher in the Rye'' was first released, many offers were made to adapt it for the screen; among them was [[Sam Goldwyn]], producer of ''[[My Foolish Heart (film)|My Foolish Heart]]''.<ref name="berg" /> In a letter written in the early fifties, J. D. Salinger spoke of mounting a play in which he would play the role of Holden Caulfield opposite [[Margaret O'Brien]], and, if he couldn’t play the part himself, to “forget about it." Almost fifty years later, the writer [[Joyce Maynard]] definitively concluded, "The only person who might ever have played Holden Caulfield would have been J. D. Salinger."<ref name="mayn">{{cite book |last=Maynard |first=Joyce |authorlink=Joyce Maynard |coauthors= |title=At Home in the World |year=1998 |publisher=Picador |location=New York |page=93| isbn=0-312-19556-7 }} p. 93.</ref>

J. D. Salinger told Maynard in the seventies that [[Jerry Lewis]] "tried for years to get his hands on the part of Holden,"<ref name="mayn" /> despite Lewis not having read the novel until he was in his thirties.<ref name="Whitfield" /> Celebrities ranging from [[Marlon Brando]] and [[Jack Nicholson]] to [[Tobey Maguire]] and [[Leonardo DiCaprio]] have since made efforts to make a film adaptation.<ref>{{cite web|archiveurl = http://web.archive.org/web/20040906/vgn.ifilm.com/db/static_text/0,1699,5784,00.html |archivedate = 2004-09-06|url = http://vgn.ifilm.com/db/static_text/0,1699,5784,00.html|year = 2004|title = News & Features |accessdate = 2007-04-05|work = IFILM: The Internet Movie Guide}}</ref> In an interview with ''[[Premiere (magazine)|Premiere]]'' magazine, [[John Cusack]] commented that his one regret about turning twenty-one was that he had become too old to play Holden Caulfield. Writer-director [[Billy Wilder]] recounted his abortive attempts to snare the novel's rights:

{{bquote|Of course I read ''The Catcher in the Rye''....Wonderful book. I loved it. I pursued it. I wanted to make a picture out of it. And then one day a young man came to the office of [[Leland Hayward]], my agent, in New York, and said, 'Please tell Mr. Leland Hayward to lay off. He’s very, very insensitive.' And he walked out. That was the entire speech. I never saw him. That was J. D. Salinger and that was ''Catcher in the Rye''.<ref>Crowe, Cameron, ed. ''Conversations with Wilder''. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1999. ISBN 0-375-40660-3. p. 299.</ref>}}

In 1961 J. D. Salinger denied [[Elia Kazan]] permission to direct a stage adaptation of ''Catcher'' for [[Broadway theater|Broadway]].<ref name="guard">{{cite news |last=McAllister |first=David |url=http://books.guardian.co.uk/news/articles/0,6109,1082699,00.html |title=Will J. D. Salinger sue? |publisher=The Guardian |date=2003-11-11 |accessdate=2007-04-12 | location=London}}</ref> More recently, Salinger's agents received bids for the ''Catcher'' movie rights from [[Harvey Weinstein]] and [[Steven Spielberg]],<ref name="post">{{cite web | url = http://entertainment.myway.com/celebgossip/pgsix/id/12_04_2003_1.html |date= 2003-12-04 | title = Inside J. D. Salinger's Own World |page=6 |publisher = ''The New York Post''. | accessdate = 2007-01-18}}{{Dead link|date=February 2011}}</ref>{{Dead link|date=February 2011}} neither of which was even passed on to J. D. Salinger for consideration.

In 2003 the [[BBC]] television program ''[[Big Read|The Big Read]]'' featured ''The Catcher in the Rye'', intercutting discussions of the novel with "a series of short films that featured an actor playing J. D. Salinger's adolescent antihero, Holden Caulfield."<ref name="guard" /> The show defended its unlicensed adaptation of the novel by claiming to be a "literary review", and no major charges were filed.

According to a speculative article in ''[[The Guardian]]'' in May 2006, there were rumors that director [[Terrence Malick]] has been linked to a possible screen adaptation of the novel.<ref>[http://books.guardian.co.uk/adaptations/story/0,,1767434,00.html Ones that got away], guardian.co.uk Books</ref>

After J. D. Salinger's death in 2010, Phyllis Westberg, who was Salinger's agent at Harold Ober Associates, stated that nothing has changed in terms of licensing movie, television, or stage rights of his works.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2010/01/29/2805400.htm?section=justin |title=Slim chance of Catcher in the Rye movie&nbsp;— ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation) |publisher=Abc.net.au |date= |accessdate=2010-01-30}}</ref> A letter written by Salinger in 1957 revealed that he was open to an adaptation of ''The Catcher in the Rye'' released after his death. He wrote: "Firstly, it is possible that one day the rights will be sold. Since there's an ever-looming possibility that I won't die rich, I toy very seriously with the idea of leaving the unsold rights to my wife and daughter as a kind of insurance policy. It pleasures me no end, though, I might quickly add, to know that I won't have to see the results of the transaction."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/2010/01/30/2010-01-30_could_catcher_in_the_rye_finally_make_it_to_the_big_screen_salinger_letter_sugge.html |title=Could 'Catcher in the Rye' finally make it to the big screen? Salinger letter suggests yes |publisher=Nydailynews.com |date= 2010-01-29|accessdate=2010-01-30 | location=New York | first=Sherryl | last=Connelly}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
{{Unreferenced section|date=January 2011}}
{{Main|Cultural references to the novel The Catcher in the Rye}}
References to ''The Catcher in the Rye'' in media and popular culture are numerous. Works inspired by the novel have been said to form their own genre.<ref name="Menand" /> Dr. Sarah Graham assessed works influenced by ''The Catcher in the Rye'' to include the novels ''[[Less Than Zero (novel)|Less Than Zero]]'' by [[Bret Easton Ellis]], ''[[The Perks of Being a Wallflower]]'' by [[Stephen Chbosky]], ''[[A Complicated Kindness]]'' by [[Miriam Toews]], ''[[The Bell Jar]]'' by [[Sylvia Plath]], and ''[[Ordinary People]]'' by [[Judith Guest]].

It has been mentioned in the films ''[[Six Degrees of Separation (film)|Six Degrees of Separation]]'', its association with famous assassins was employed in the film ''[[Conspiracy Theory (film)|Conspiracy Theory]]'', and its assignment to the main characters on the TV series ''[[South Park]]'' was the basis for the 2010 episode "[[The Tale of Scrotie McBoogerballs]]". References to the novel form a major plot point in the first season of ''[[Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex]]''. The film ''[[Field of Dreams (film)| Field of Dreams]]'' features a fictional author named Terence Mann, portrayed by [[James Earl Jones]], who was loosely based on Salinger, and his controversial novel ''The Boat Rocker'', which echoes of ''The Catcher in the Rye''. 

The title was also mentioned in the song "6 Minutes" by the Jonas Brothers.

''[[The Good Girl]]'', the 2002 film starring Jennifer Aniston, was based on the life of a discount store clerk having an affair with a stock boy, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, who considers himself the incarnation of Holden Caulfield.

In the decade following its publication, there were more than 70 essays on the novel printed in American and British magazines.

The book has also inspired many songs, such as "Catcher in the Rye" by [[Guns N' Roses]] , "Catcher in the Rye" by [[Datarock]] , "Who Wrote Holden Caulfield?" by [[Green Day]] and [[Streetlight Manifesto]]'s "Here's to Life," which includes the lyrics "Holden Caulfield was a friend of mine."  It's also mentioned in [[Billy Joel]]'s "We Didn't Start the Fire".

A chalkboard in the first movie spin-off of the [[Eden of the East]]-which is also from the Stand-Alone Complex director-celebrates the 60th anniversary of the book, because the film's setting is two years after the film came out.

The book was a inspiration to the 2006 video game [[Bully]]. Also the protagonist of the game, Jimmy Hopkins, uses Holden`s favorite derogatory term "phony" to describe his new sterpfather.

==See also==
*[[Le Monde's 100 Books of the Century|''Le Monde'''s 100 Books of the Century]]

==References==
===Notes===
{{Reflist|2}}

===Bibliography===
* {{Cite book|last=Graham|first=Sarah|title=J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye|publisher=Routledge|year=2007|isbn=0415344522}}
* {{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/8084931.stm|title=The why of the Rye |last=Rohrer|first=Finlo|date=June 5, 2009|work=BBC News Magazine|publisher=BBC}}

===Further reading===
* {{Cite book
| url = http://www.ohiostatepress.org/index.htm?/books/book%20pages/steinle%20in.html
| title = In Cold Fear: ''The Catcher in the Rye'' Censorship Controversies and Postwar American Character
| author = Pamela Hunt Steinle
| publisher = [[Ohio State University Press]]
| year = 2000.
}}

==External links==
{{Wikiquote|The Catcher in the Rye}}
* [http://www.mansionbooks.com/BookDetail.php?bk=213 Photos of the first edition of ''Catcher in the Rye'']
* [http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/books/06/03/salinger.catcher.lawsuit/index.html Lawsuit targets 'rip-off' of 'Catcher in the Rye']&nbsp;– ''[[CNN]]''
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{{J. D. Salinger}}

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[[Category:Novels by J. D. Salinger]]
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