The Catcher in the Rye (For Further Study)

For Further Study

• Jonathan Baumbach, "The Saint as a Young Man: A Reappraisal of The Catcher in the Rye," in Modem Language Quarterly, Vol. 25, no. 4, December, 1964, pp. 461-72.

  This defense of The Catcher in the Rye valorizes Holden's childlike innocence as a form of saintly idealism.

• Harold Bloom, "Introduction," in Major Literary Characters, edited by Harold Bloom, Chelsea House, 1996, pp. 1-4.

  A general analysis of the character Holden Caulfield which situates him relative to other literary figures.

• Donald P. Costello, "The Language of The Catcher in the Rye," in American Speech, Vol. 34, no. 3, October, 1959, pp. 172-81.

  An analysis of how Salinger's use of language realistically portrays American teenage slang during the 1950s.

• Duane Edwards, "Holden Caulfield: Don't Ever Tell Anybody Anything," in English Literary History, Vol. 44, no. 3, Fall, 1977, pp. 556-67.

  This analysis of the character of Holden Caulfield emphasizes how Holden is an ironic character who exemplifies the same kind of phoniness that he criticizes in others.

• Warren French,J. D. Salinger, Revisited, Twayne Publishers, 1988.

  This book provides an overview of Salinger's life and fiction, and one of its chapters also contains an excellent introduction to the themes and issues raised in The Catcher in the Rye.

• Lilian Furst, "Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground and Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye," in Canadian Review of Comparative Literature, Vol. 5, no. I, Winter, 1978, pp. 72-85.

  An analysis of parallels between The Catcher in the Rye and Dostoyevsky's Notes from Underground

• Arthur Heiserman and James E. Miller, Jr., "J. D. Salinger: Some Crazy Cliff," in Western Humanities Review, Vol. 10, no. 2, Spring, 1956, pp. 129-37.

  An analysis of The Catcher in the Rye which shows how it belongs to the western literary tradition of epic quest narratives.

• John M. Howell, "Salinger in the Waste Land," in Critical Essays on J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, edited by Joel Salzberg, G. K. Hall & Co., 1990, pp. 85-91.

  An analysis of parallels between The Catcher in the Rye and T. S. Eliot's poetry.

• Charles Kaplan, "Holden and Huck: The Odysseys of Youth," in College English, Vol. 18, no. 2, November, 1956, pp. 76-80.

  A comparison of The Catcher in the Rye to Mark Twain's Huckleberry Finn.

• Robert A. Lee, "'Flunking Everything Else Except English Anyway': Holden Caulfield, Author," in Critical Essays on J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, edited by Joel Salzberg, G. K. Hall, 1990, pp. 185-97.

  An analysis of Holden's character which focuses on his artistic creativity.

• Carol and Richard Ohmann, "Reviewers, Critics, and The Catcher in the Rye," in Critical Inquiry, Vol. 3, no. 1, Autumn, 1976, pp. 15-37.

  A Marxist analysis of how capitalist social and economic strategies influence the development of Holden's character.

• Jack Salzman, "Introduction," in New Essays on The Catcher in the Rye, edited by Jack Salzman, Cambridge University Press, 1991, pp. 1-22.

  An overview of critical interpretations of The Catcher in the Rye.

• Mary Suzanne Schriber, "Holden Caulfield, C'est Moi," in Critical Essays on J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, edited by Joel Salzberg, G. K. Hall, 1990, pp. 226-38.

  A feminist analysis of the critical reception of The Catcher in the Rye which argues that male critics inflate the significance of the novel because they identify with Holden as a representation of their own male adolescence and because they ignore female perspectives.

• Helen Weinberg,The New Novel in America: The Kafkan Mode in Contemporary Fiction, Cornell University Press, 1970.

  An analysis of parallels between The Catcher in the Rye and Franz Kafka's fiction.