The Catcher in the Rye, hardcover edition Author: [US] J.D. Salinger Publisher: Yilin Press

Introduction

As soon as the novel was published, it was warmly welcomed by young people in China, who believed that it spoke to their own hearts. For a time, students in universities and middle schools imitated Holden, the protagonist of the novel. They wore windbreakers in the middle of winter, wore red hunter hats upside down, and imitated Holden's words and actions. Even in the early 1960s, when foreign scholars talked about literature with American students, they immediately brought up The Catcher in the Rye.

The Catcher in the Rye is highly regarded not only because the author created a novel artistic style and narrated the book in the first person with the voice of a teenager, but more importantly, it reflects the essence of spiritual civilization in capitalist society. In addition to material life, people also need spiritual life, and in a relatively wealthy society, spiritual life is often more important than material life.

The protagonist is Holden Caulfield, a 16-year-old middle school student, who is one of the earliest anti-heroes in contemporary American literature. Holden was born in a wealthy middle-class family in New York. The teachers and his parents at school forced him to study hard in order to stand out and buy a Cadillac in the future. However, all he did at school was talk about women, alcohol and sex. He couldn't stand everything around him and had no intention of studying hard. Therefore, he was always punished. When he was expelled for the fourth time, he didn't dare to go home. He wandered alone in the most prosperous New York City in the United States for a day and two nights, staying in a small hotel, visiting nightclubs and having casual sex with his girlfriend. He was bored in the cinema, called a prostitute in a muddle, and couldn't help hugging and cuddling with his vain girlfriend. At the same time, he was very depressed in his heart, trying to escape from the hypocritical adult world to find the experience and feelings of purity and truth. This extreme contradiction that could not be reconciled in spirit eventually made him completely collapse and lie in a mental hospital.