Re: influences

Bethany M. Edstrom (Bethany.M.Edstrom@Dartmouth.EDU)
Sun, 11 Jan 1998 20:27:15 -0500 (EST)

--- You wrote:
1951:  rosenbergs, H bomb, sugar ray, panmunjom, brando, the king and i,
and THE CATCHER IN THE RYE...

Sooooo, think any of these subjects (which at least Joel considered to
be important in American history) influenced Catcher?  Sure are several
phonies lurking about there.
--- end of quoted material ---

Hey, I thought this was an interesting idea, and was planning to wait and see
what other people said before I responded, but today's been such a quiet day in
Salingerland that I thought I'd say something...

I have my own (maybe irrational) issues with THAT song (sorry Brian) and the
neat little summation it makes of world history from the eye of the Baby
Boomers, but I've been wondering about this point ever since it was introduced.
For me, it's hard to picture Holden Caulfield walking around a world populated
by the Rosenbergs, H-Bomb, et. al. simply because he was such a huge part of MY
adolescence in the 80's. But no doubt about it, Holden is definitely a product
of the 50's and that has to be addressed (I became aware of the timelessness of
Catcher the other day when an English prof of mine referred to Catcher as "the
most popular American novel of the 1930's")

The other day someone mentioned that Catcher took JDS 5 years to write. So
figure that Holden is really a product of the period from 1946-51, aka the
post-war years. In other words, maybe the mindset behind Holden is the idea of
what would it be like to just miss the defining historical event of one's
generation by a year or two. This is the sort of experience that could be
enacted through aimlessness, anger, isolation, etc--sound familiar?  Salinger
himself, of course, was in the war, but he may have been thinking about this
sort of thing when he returned. Holden, a young man who "missed out" on the war
may have seemed like Salinger's idea of innocence--leading to another of
Catcher's great themes.

Well, what are the main themes brought out by Billy Joel's landmark events of
1951? Rosenbergs: for Americans, they represent victory over what was perceived
as an enormous menace, but which we now see as being a little redundant; H
Bomb: fear, possibility of ultimate destruction, also strength, military might
(seems like the opposite of Catcher's theme); Sugar Ray: I don't know enough
about boxing to say what he means...anyone?; Panmunjom: More Communism issues;
Brando & The King and I: I can't find an applicable theme, but maybe someone
can...

OK, I've tried, but I can't link Holden with the rest of his 1951
contemporaries. I guess the cheese stands alone once again. Thoughts?

On another note: just for fun--I think the Billy Joel song ends in 88 or
89--anyone want to come up with the next 9 verses?

Bethany