The new full-length critical essays in this title provide a comprehensive critical look at this classic by J. D. Salinger. Master scholer Harold Bloom introduces the novel in this study guide, which also features a chronology, a bibliography, an index, and notes on the contributors.
Harold Bloom was an American literary critic and the Sterling Professor of Humanities at Yale University. In 2017, Bloom was called "probably the most famous literary critic in the English-speaking world." After publishing his first book in 1959, Bloom wrote more than 50 books, including over 40 books of literary criticism, several books discussing religion, and one novel. He edited hundreds of anthologies concerning numerous literary and philosophical figures for the Chelsea House publishing firm. Bloom's books have been translated into more than 40 languages. He was elected to the American Philosophical Society in 1995. Bloom was a defender of the traditional Western canon at a time when literature departments were focusing on what he derided as the "school of resentment" (multiculturalists, feminists, Marxists, and others). He was educated at Yale University, the University of Cambridge, and Cornell University.
I like the way Bloom thinks! He deserves to be called a literary critic! This is another useful book for every serious researcher who needs to get an insightful look inside The Catcher in the Rye!
What is important about this book, is the critical essays Bloom included! They are very insightful and helpful for any researcher who needs to understand Salinger’s Catcher in the Rye better.
A lot of people think that Catcher in the Rye is pretentious, but I can see a lot of humanity in the way that Salinger has written Holden, and for that I love this book. Holden is a complex, charming character, and although he's attracted a lot of creeps, I believe that he's a really good kid trying to find his own way in the world - a universal truth, packaged in a naive and bitter teen with a story to tell.
It was rather bland when developing the story and did not offer much to explore. My greatest issue was the ending as it was very open and did not provide a good closure to the already oversimplified/boring story.
I never could figure out what people saw in this book. I found the lead character uninteresting in every respect and the story dull, dull, dull. Sorry!