22 ms·
Those books were startling when they came out, both in content and style. They were so influential they have been imitated thousands of times; their themes an
by jonjacky 17y ago
Those books were startling when they came out, both in content and style. They were so influential they have been imitated thousands of times; their themes and styles have permeated popular culture until now they have become cliches.
It is no longer possible for a contemporary reader to experience them as the original readers did.
- bmelton 17y agoI agree with the premise, but would also caveat that Catcher was a much better read for me when I was about the same age as Holden was. I could identify then with his feelings, with his inability to succinctly sum up his thoughts, with his need to accentuate things that really didn't need accentuating, etc. The style worked for me (even though I'm decidedly not from the era of its original readers) because even though the vernacular is dated, it was still relevant to the mannerisms I spoke with in my teens and (maybe) early twenties. Reading it again now, in my thirties, it is dramatically different. Not because I've read other books that imitated the style, or because it has become cliche, but because I am very far removed, mentally, from how I was when I first read it.