Reading log: J.D. Salinger, The Catcher in the Rye
(Да, раньше не читал.)
Скажите честно, а что, это действительно кто-то может воспринять как социальный протест, бунт поколения итп.? Почему в СССР эта книга приобрела такой культовый статус? (Я просмотрел внимательно тогдашний перевод; он смазывает картинку, делает героя более сентиментальным, менее отвратительным -- но только смазывает, не замазывает полностью.) Кто в здравом (да даже и не в слишком) уме может отождествляться с героем? Даже его любовь к детям -- совершенно беспомощная, пассивная.
Образ при этом получился убедительный, как редко бывает, книга гениальная -- но совершенно устрашающая.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A 16-year-old high school student named Holden Caulfield is kicked out from yet another private school and is forced to go home. Before he does, though, he spends a rather uneventful couple of days, trying to postpone the inevitable showdown with his parents: walks around New York City, goes to bars and cafes, calls up former acquaintances, tries to chat up strangers, goes on a date with an ex-classmate, visits a former teacher, sneaks into his own home to see his 10-year-old sister Phoebe. The story ends abruptly, with a small addendum implying that Caulfield was temporarily institutionalized before resuming studies at a new school.
The story is told in the first-person voice, which is recreated by the author with incredible believability and intensity. I find it hard to believe, though, that Salinger intended Holden Caulfield to be any sort of his alter ego, providing a social commentary on the current human condition, as is often claimed. Caulfield is not excessively intelligent, cowardly, mean, ungrateful, paranoid, sloppy, a sucker for authority, dishonest, disorganized and thoroughly unlikeable. He is extremely lifelike, and the novel certainly deserves its cult/classic status; but how anyone can sympathize with the main character is beyond me.
The only redeeming quality Holden has is his tender attitude towards little children. However, it is also quite passive.
Given Salinger's further life and career, I do not exclude the possibility that his own life-view was, indeed, similar to Caulfield's (he has, after all, turned his dream of a cottage in the woods into reality). And yet, I find it hard to read the novel otherwise than: when in pangs of teenage (or any other) angst, don't forget that you might end up sounding and looking like Holden Caulfield.
A scarier warning is hard to imagine.
View all my reviews >>
Скажите честно, а что, это действительно кто-то может воспринять как социальный протест, бунт поколения итп.? Почему в СССР эта книга приобрела такой культовый статус? (Я просмотрел внимательно тогдашний перевод; он смазывает картинку, делает героя более сентиментальным, менее отвратительным -- но только смазывает, не замазывает полностью.) Кто в здравом (да даже и не в слишком) уме может отождествляться с героем? Даже его любовь к детям -- совершенно беспомощная, пассивная.
Образ при этом получился убедительный, как редко бывает, книга гениальная -- но совершенно устрашающая.
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
A 16-year-old high school student named Holden Caulfield is kicked out from yet another private school and is forced to go home. Before he does, though, he spends a rather uneventful couple of days, trying to postpone the inevitable showdown with his parents: walks around New York City, goes to bars and cafes, calls up former acquaintances, tries to chat up strangers, goes on a date with an ex-classmate, visits a former teacher, sneaks into his own home to see his 10-year-old sister Phoebe. The story ends abruptly, with a small addendum implying that Caulfield was temporarily institutionalized before resuming studies at a new school.
The story is told in the first-person voice, which is recreated by the author with incredible believability and intensity. I find it hard to believe, though, that Salinger intended Holden Caulfield to be any sort of his alter ego, providing a social commentary on the current human condition, as is often claimed. Caulfield is not excessively intelligent, cowardly, mean, ungrateful, paranoid, sloppy, a sucker for authority, dishonest, disorganized and thoroughly unlikeable. He is extremely lifelike, and the novel certainly deserves its cult/classic status; but how anyone can sympathize with the main character is beyond me.
The only redeeming quality Holden has is his tender attitude towards little children. However, it is also quite passive.
Given Salinger's further life and career, I do not exclude the possibility that his own life-view was, indeed, similar to Caulfield's (he has, after all, turned his dream of a cottage in the woods into reality). And yet, I find it hard to read the novel otherwise than: when in pangs of teenage (or any other) angst, don't forget that you might end up sounding and looking like Holden Caulfield.
A scarier warning is hard to imagine.
View all my reviews >>