catcher and roddy doyle's the van

helena kim (helenak@geocities.com)
Sun, 14 Dec 1997 00:01:47 +0000

look, i have to apologise in advance for this but tim asked for it:

> * Introduce us to a recent novel you've read that captures the spirit
> of its time the way "Catcher" was a product of its time.

{p.s. answered in the style of a school kid (simply because i don't know
any other way). 
i want a grade.}

'Capturing the spirit of the times' is a tall order for any book and/or 
person to live up to. 'Spokesman for a generation' is a title that has 
been thrust upon and rejected by (yes, I hear your cliché detectors 
shifting into overdrive) more than a few people from good ol' JD to 
Dylan (Bob, that is) and Kurt Cobain. It's the type of description that 
doesn't rest comfortably. It commands an aftermath; a responsibility. 
It's the most self-conscious of claims, people are wary of it, and 
rightly so. Phrases like that are dangerous.

'Catcher' captures the spirit of the times initially superficially. The 
1950s, to me, always meant Radio City Music Hall, hamburgers, 
movies, football games, blondes called Sally/Sandy, roller-skates, 
letter jackets and crew cuts. This is probably all due to too many 
viewings of 'Grease' as a small child, but how and never, in 'Catcher', 
JD manages to engage us in the quintessential surroundings of a 
teenager in the 1950s. He cross references everything I associate 
with the era, and has the details of the whole tale flawless.

It's not only the concrete details that he captures. There's also that 
whole post-war pre-1960s feeling of unrest, of unease, as though 
everything is frighteningly perfect like Winona Ryder's 
neighbourhood in Edward Scissorhands. Holden's dad has all this 
affluence, all this money, to try and try again to sort out his son's 
future. Holden's parents lives are working out just fine, indeed, it's a 
great time to be alive, but they just can't understand why he's not 
happy with his very ample lot. 'Catcher' catches the atmosphere of the 
time, the emotions that were buzzing through the air.

Now think of working class Dublin in 1990. Roddy Doyle's 'The Van' 
has the imagery perfect. From the front gate of the Rabitte household 
painted the colours of Liverpool F.C. to the Kylie Minogue hairdos of 
the Traceys and the Sharons, to the ludicrous fashion statements 
('They're not flares, they're baggies, righ'?'), the description of 
Barrytown has the tiniest details, the aesthetics of it all so 
unbelievably exact (yet subtly placed in the narrative) that you're 
actually *there*. Doyle has visualized Barrytown so clearly that is a 
flawless representation of suburban Dublin at the beginning of the 
decade.

But, like 'Catcher', it's not just the physical props and set that 'The 
Van' catches. In the summer of 1990 the Irish soccer team reached 
the quarter finals (I think it was) of the World Cup in Italy. (This was 
previously unheard of. We have the worst, and the ugliest, football 
team in the world). 'The Van' plots this along with Jimmy Rabitte's 
decision to leave long-term unemployment and start running a 
chipper van (That's a mobile fast food outlet to ye of dubious origin.) 
There is a general feeling of anticipation throughout the whole book. 
It's the start of the final decade of the twentieth and things are 
changing. 'The Van' catches its characters metaphorically throwing 
their hands in the air. As the soccer team goes from match to match 
and the chipper begins to make money, Jimmy's wife goes back to 
school, and everything in the Rabitte household changes around. 
'The Van' reels us into the feeling of tingling euphoria in the 
face of absolute desperation that prevailed at the time.

So, in conclusion, just as JD Salinger's 'Catcher in the Rye' does, 
Roddy Doyle's 'The Van' captures both the descriptive and the 
atmospheric spirit of the times.

And I shall take a bow and say goodnight.

-- 
:helena
http://www.geocities.com/SouthBeach/4801/