Wednesday, October 01, 2008

Is Catcher in the Rye Over the Hill?

There's a debate semi-raging . . . simmering, I guess, on CBC's Radio Q programme concerning the relevance of the Salinger classic; and, the big Q is: What would replace it (for high-school students)? I wonder what Nigel would think of De Niro's Game or why Great Expectations might not do the trick. Of course, there are others; but, commentarians either love or hate the book. I don't hate it; but, it's not one of my all-time toppers. (It has some good passages, IOW.) Then, of course, when compared with Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, well . . . that echoes without saying "no contest" (but, is it suitable for high-schoolers?).
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3 comments:

  1. Frank Wilson4:40 PM

    I've never been a fan of it. As for what might replace it in high schools, I would suggest William Nicholson's The Society of Others.

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  2. Judith Fitzgerald7:46 PM

    I've never read it; now, I will. I was thinking, later, two books I first met in high school, Lord of the Flies and A Canticle for Leibowitz, they're an education, aren't they? Why do we (or they) even need anything else? Together, they're set for life (and intimations of other stuff :)). Ah, good thing I gave up professoring, huh? (Don't answer that!)

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  3. Judith Fitzgerald7:53 PM

    Wait a minute, would Horace McCoy's They Shoot Horses, Don't They? be too much for senior high-school students?

    (I'm not suggesting the loss of Shakespeare nor any of the other books traditionally considered curriculum fodder be turfed, not at all; just, this coming-of-age section of book-teaching and larning, just that part of the reading list.)

    The first novel I ever read was Shane; the second was Wuthering Heights (which explains . . . something :)).

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