Goodbye Holden Caulfield?
In this season of school reading lists, an English professor at Oberlin College says that The Catcher in the Rye, a classic coming of age story is past its prime. Anne Trubek argues in Good magazine and on NPR that it's time to update J.D. Salinger's coming-of-age tale. "It was published in 1951 and it's not so contemporary anymore," Trubek said on NPR. "I think that most American teenagers will find it rather tame and sort of laughable the things that were once considered so controversial."
Trubek (whom Nancy probably bribed) says many of today's teens won't identify with Holden Caulfield, an upper-class, white preppy. I disagree. I think teen-age angst, that sense of searching and questioning, was captured perfectly in the book. Yes, the book seems a bit innocent, but the loss of innocence provides a powerful counterpoint in most coming of age books.
Not many people would identify with frontier life, either, but that's no reason to pull My Antonia from reading lists. Her revised syllabus includes:
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson, the story of Melinda, a high school freshman and teenage outcast whose struggles with adolescence cause her to fall mute.
Drown by Junot Díaz, short stories told from the perspective of Dominican adolescents struggling with family, sexuality, and identity.
Project X by Jim Shepard, the story of two eighth-graders in a Columbine-style school massacre.
American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang, a graphic novel about that age-old story of trying to accept who you are.
Old School by Tobias Wolff, about an early-1960s prep school scholarship boy with literary ambitions.
The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides, which plays with the horror genre, and tells us that not all is at it appears in suburbia.
Anywhere But Here by Mona Simpson, a mother-daughter story about life on the road and a child’s desire to be rooted.
Comments
I didn't identify with Holden Caulfield when I read the book 25 years ago. I would be all in favor of an update.
Posted by: LisaLynne | September 5, 2008 9:15 AM