A Reader's Companion to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye [Paperback]

Peter G. Beidler (Author), Calloway M'Cloud (Cover Art)

Book Description

ISBN-10: 1603810005 | ISBN-13: 978-1603810005 | Publication Date: September 15, 2008 | Edition: 1st

Peter G. Beidler’s Reader’s Companion is an indispensable guide for teachers, students, and general readers who want fully to appreciate Salinger’s perennial bestseller. Now nearly six decades old, The Catcher in the Rye contains references to people, places, books, movies, and historical events that will puzzle many twenty-first-century readers. Beidler’s guide provides some 250 explanations to help readers make sense of the culture through which Holden Caulfield stumbles as he comes of age. It provides a map showing the various stops in Holden’s Manhattan odyssey. Of particular interest to readers whose native language is not English is the glossary of more than a hundred terms, phrases, and slang expressions. In his introductory essay, “Catching The Catcher in the Rye,” Beidler discusses such topics as the three-day time line for the novel, the way the novel grew out of two earlier-published short stories, the extent to which the novel is autobiographical, what Holden looks like, and the reasons for the enduring appeal of the novel. The many photographs in the Reader’s Companion give fascinating glimpses into the world that Holden has made famous. Beidler also provides discussion of some of the issues that have engaged scholars down through the years: the meaning of Holden’s red hunting hat, whether Holden writes his novel in an insane asylum, Mr. Antolini’s troubling actions, and Holden’s close relationship with his sister and his two brothers. Readers of A Reader’s Companion to J. D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye will wonder how they managed without it before.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"For those of us who have not read or taught The Catcher in the Rye for at least a decade or two, Peter G. Beidler's A Reader's Companion to J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye offers the breadth and detail of a gripping, if not nostalgic, documentary about The Catcher and its maker. For those American students in the second millennium who are assigned this book in their high school or college English courses--or who will read it for the first time out of their own literary curiosity--Beidler's book will prove to be a time capsule that will illuminate the world of their grandfathers."

--Joel Salzberg, Emeritus Professor of English, University of Colorado at Denver

"Holden Caulfield is a literary icon of a character, the youth disaffected with the world. A Reader's Companion to J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is a guide to fully understanding this classic novel and why it has gained fame today. On top of exploring the book, many theories and ideas about the work are explored, such as the fate of Holden after the events of the book and a greater eye on his familial relations. A Reader's Companion to J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye is for fans and those opening the book for the first time. Highly recommended."

--The Midwest Book Review/Small Press Bookwatch

"With a clear presentation of copious facts and insights, accompanied by a wide array of photographs, Professor Beidler's indispensable book enhances the reader's understanding and appreciation of Salinger's landmark novel."

--Bruce F. Mueller, co-author, Critical Companion to J. D. Salinger: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work (Facts on File, 2011)

" 'That is so last century!' today's readers and teachers may exclaim as they begin The Catcher in the Rye, the 1951 classic by J. D. Salinger. Fortunately, Peter G. Beidler has decoded the cultural information that packs the novel.... A valuable tool for twenty-first century readers. Although now retired from Lehigh University's Department of English, Peter G. Beidler continues to serve the reading community."

--Geraldine A. Richards, ForeWord Digital Reviews --This text refers to an alternate Paperback edition.

About the Author

PETER G. BEIDLER recently retired from Lehigh University as the Lucy G. Moses Distinguished Professor of English. Widely published in both British and American literature, he has won a number of teaching awards. In 1981 he was named National Professor of the Year by the Council on Advancement and Support of Education and the Carnegie Foundation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 258 pages
• Publisher: Coffeetown Press; 1st edition (September 15, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1603810005
• ISBN-13: 978-1603810005
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.9 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #977,664 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars "Wudga" and "Tryna" Explained, June 20, 2009

By 

Dave "Dave B. aka Catboxer" (Olympic Peninsula, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Reader's Companion to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (Paperback)

A Reader's Companion to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye
Knowing Salinger's celebrated novel as well as I do, I was eager to get hold of Peter G. Beidler's "Reader's Companion" from the time I first heard about it. It was waiting for me when I got home a week ago Friday, and I settled in for a relaxed weekend's fun read. Beidler did not disappoint; I was impressed with both his comprehensive familiarity with the scholarship pertaining to "Catcher" and his down-to-earth, nuts-and-bolts approach to Holden Caulfield's sad but potentially fulfilling life. Reading Beidler reminded me that competent criticism is a lot of hard work.

I know "The Catcher" as well as anyone except maybe the author of this reader's guide, having taught it probably 20 times in the course of 15 years, and having read most of it aloud to my remedial and English language learning sections at one time or another. I also taught it for eight years in my school's only advanced placement literature class, which gave me the opportunity to help students conceptualize the style as well as the substance of the novel, for "The Catcher in the Rye" is certainly about the former as much as it is the latter, as it is one of the last century's most significant stylistic breakthroughs.

Besides reading the book many times, Peter Beidler also appears to have read every book, magazine article, and scholarly journal piece ever written about Salinger's masterwork or about Salinger himself. His analysis quotes many of these, and I wish more of them had adopted his plain-spoken approach rather than indulging themselves with elaborate and far-fetched theories, such as suggesting that when Holden and his sister Phoebe are passing his red hunting hat back and forth, that this "signal(s) not merely exchanges of fixed hunter/catcher prey/caught roles, but also rebirth through these role changes" (p. 81). Dealing with this kind of stuff is all in critic's day's work, I suppose.

I was especially taken with the locator map of Manhattan (figure 17), and the ESL guide to English idioms and Salinger's phonetic spellings of colloquial mispronunciations, appended to the end of the main body of notes. It would have been easier for me to teach Salinger to native Spanish speakers if they'd had ready access to the meanings of exotic words like "tryna" (as when Holden's first cab driver of the weekend asks him, "Whatcha tryna do bud, kid me?") and "wudga" (as in "Wudga say?" spoken by one of the bimbos from Seattle Holden met in the Lavender Room).

What I enjoyed most, however, was Beidler's identification of the movies Holden or the novel's other characters allude to, sometimes vaguely. For example, he names "Captains Courageous" as the movie that Sunny (the dull-witted prostitute with whom Holden pursues a failed liason) was talking about when she compared Holden with that high-pitched little waif Freddy Bartholomew, the child actor who starred in it, although she couldn't remember Bartholemew's name.

For my money, however, Beidler's i.d.-ing the ridiculous and maudlin melodramatic film Holden sees (and pans hilariously) at Radio City Music Hall late in the novel as "Random Harvest" is this guide's crowning touch. The late-40's movie starred Ronald Coleman and Greer Garson, fairly creaks with overblown sentimentality and, as chance would have it, won the "best picture" Oscar the year it came out.

I have always wanted to know what movie that was. And I'm sure that any unanswered questions anyone else has about "The Catcher in the Rye" will be answered here.

7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Terrific study--answers some questions people have asked for decades., September 24, 2009

By 

Paul B. "Critic" (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Reader's Companion to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (Paperback)

In A Reader's Companion to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, Beidler shows, on the basis of internal evidence, that the action of the novel takes place in mid-December, 1949, and not, as some scholars have assumed, in 1950 (see p. 1).

Beidler is the first to identify the movie that the prostitute Sunny refers to in chapter 13 of The Catcher in the Rye. She says that in the movie a boy falls off a boat. Beidler identifies the movie as Captains Courageous, starring Spencer Tracy. The reference is important because Sunny says that Holden looks like the boy who fell off the boat. Beidler shows (see p. 28) a still of the boy,played by child-actor Freddie Bartholomew. That shows that Sunny thinks Holden looks like a little boy, not the tough guy he is trying to be.

Beidler discusses the influence that Salinger's book has had on later fiction, such as Stephen Chbosky's The Perks of Being a Wallflower, Sherman Alexie's The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, and Curtis Sittenfeld's Prep.

He also shows the way Salingere's novel has shaped several modern films, such as Conspiracy Theory, Finding Forrester, Winter Passing, Chasing Holden, and The Good Girl.

Beidler discusses the extent to which Holden is a disguised self-portrait of Salinger himself, as well as the revelations about Salinger made by his live-in girl friend Joyce Maynard in At Home in the World and his daughter Margaret A. Salinger in Dream Catcher.

For a reproduction of the 1961 TIME cover painting of Salinger, see Beidler, p. 6.

Beidler shows how Salinger's conception of Holden grew from the early portraits of him in published short stories like "I'm Crazy" (published in Collier's in 1945).

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must Have- for Teachers and Students!, November 11, 2008

By 

Sue M. Butler "Reading Consultant" (Seattle, Washington, USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: A Reader's Companion to J.D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye (Paperback)

I loved this book.
Reviewed by Sue Butler, Adolescent Literacy Consultant, Seattle Public Schools

There is something for everyone in Peter Beidler's guide to Salinger's classic 1951 novel. It has detailed explanatory notes, photographs of places referred to in the novel, a map of Manhattan showing stops along Holden's journey, explanations of the movies he mentions, glossaries of words, phrases, and idiomatic sayings--all served up with gleeful humor. Beidler, who obviously loves The Catcher in the Rye, shares his enthusiasm with all who read his guide.
This reader's companion will be useful for students who need help understanding the culture of the 1950's. It will be indispensable for readers whose native language is not English, or who struggle with complex, ironic, or culturally unfamiliar texts.

And of course they will love the photo of bosom of the "squaw" in the diorama in New York City's American Museum of Natural History. Holden says all the little kids who visit the museum "wanted to sneak a look at it." Thanks to Beidler's Companion, we all get to sneak that peek. But we also get a glimpse into many other fascinating crevices in Salinger's novel.

This reader's companion belongs in all high school and college libraries. It will give everyone writing a paper on The Catcher in the Rye a leg up.