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

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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.

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).

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.

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.

It isn't that Salinger's Catcher in the Rye is that complicated, but the readers' guide helps with further analysis. This guide does not go into any deep descriptions of the novel. It was nice to read other perspectives or ways of approaching this novel to teach to my students. This companion is worth it for teachers.