Re: First Catcher memories?

Dan Mahanty (dmahanty@osf1.gmu.edu)
Mon, 24 Nov 1997 00:29:05 -0500 (EST)

Dear Bethany et al.

What a fantastic question you have posed here. I would hate to assume an
ere of presumptuousness, but I would venture to say that the character
appeal of Holden and the enticing quality of CITR are timeless; 
I didn't read it until I was 20, and yet it had a profound affect on me -
one that will always last, and one that reaches far beyond the
involvement one typically establishes with literature. I believe it takes
a particular type to really identify with the self-contained mental
self-awareness and the perception of Holden. (In fact, I embrace this idea
with some enthusiasm, to think that some of us can enjoy and indulge in
a unique experience). If anybody questions this fact, think about the
first time you read Franny and Zooey! Who on this list hasn't experienced
the precious spiritual hypochondria of Zooey, or recognized the
pseudo-intellectual nature of Lanes all over their respective Ivory Tower,
or striven for the seemingly pan-optic perspective of Zooey? How many of
you could continue reading Nine Stories immediately after Bananafish?
We've all read Dos Passos and Dostoevsky,  Kafka, and Kerouac, and yet
while nobody questions their greatness, Salinger has given a certain breed
an incredible gift.
There is a reason (I believe) this list exists, and each to discover at
the right time. 12 or 20, or even 80, I would hope that age is irrelevant.
Who knows, I once had a professor tell me to read Anna Karenina (one
of my personal favorites) again when I was 30, and again when I was 60.
Perhaps we should all do this with the much shorter CITR - a
self-prescribed mental placebo if you will.

Thanks for making me think, and thank you to whomever alluded to the poppy
scarf - pretty intense.

Dan Mahanty
George Mason University