麥田守望者的文獻(xiàn)綜述

1、Jerome David Salinger is born in New York City, on January1st, 1916. He grew up in Newswire and later attended three colleges. As early as the age of fifteen he began writing. When he was twenty one he published his first short story. After service as an infan try sergea nt in Europe duri ng World W

2、arn he wrote more stories, most of which were published in Collier Ssa,turday Evening Post collected papers and other journals. Salinger, a man of mystery and conscientiousness, aliens from all things connected with the society. In Salinger wosrks, his protagonists are often sensitive and very aware

3、 of adolescents, or adults who, in either case, seek their own identity in relation to an external world with which they find themselves more or less at odds. And also, alienation or disenchantment with the so-called “adult w”orld figures largely exists in his writings.With the publication of The Ca

4、tcher in the Ryein 1951, J. D. Salinger gained almost an immediate acceptance as being among the most significant post-World War n American novelists. In The Catcher in the Rye, a 16 years old middle-school student, Holden, was dismissed by Pencey School for the fourth time. Then he chose to be a tr

5、amp. The three days vagrant life vividly reflects his experiences and feelings. It manifests the American young peoples depressed and indecisive psychology. Andalso, it shows us the hypocritical and repulsive of the adult world. What Holden had seen and heard had aroused the innumerable contemporary

6、 people isntense sympathetic chord. Many adults also had a better understanding of the younger generations through reading this book. Holden, as an incompletely sensible child as well as an “adult ”just as a know-it-all, struggles to find the right path into adulthood. He finds the hypocrisy and ugl

7、iness of the world around him surprisingly unbearable. And through his visual angle he tried to protect himself from the pain and disappointment in the adult world. However, he is constantly distressedthat he is keeping falling into adulthood and he finally realizes the aim of life that he is seekin

8、g for.1 Domestic situation of researchThe American writer Salinger only publish a novel The Catcher in the，Rye but he enjoys abundant in the literary arena. As soon as the novel published, it is famous in the world. For several dozens years, this book reprints unceasingly, has become the article stu

9、dy classics and gain the recognition of the contemporary US literature, even the world .The catcher in the Rye, through Holden esxperiences and sense of Subject of traces in New York three days and two nights ,who was born to a lawyer family, dueto be feared of his parents blame after the fourth exp

10、elledefrsocmhotohl, reflects the spirit of the difficulties and problems that the fifties of US adolescents face. The plot of the novel is relatively flat, but the comment is never dull. For example, Gao Ying Hs olden ismage explanation, it mainly focus on the Holden csharacteristic, this thesis aim

11、s at revealing the complex and multifaceted personality of the characterscreated by Salinger; Jiang Shan s tCheatcher in the Rye: look myself, it focus on the Holden constradictory ideal . Domestic critic Luo Shiping thinks that Holdens three-day wandering in New York is to eliminate the gap between

12、 the society as well as his contemporaries and himself, and finally, reach surpassing himself The fact, however turns out that each place where Holden goes has an invisible wall separating other person from him ， making him an outside man of this society who can not be a member for ever Luo says”:Ho

13、ldens pains is，on one hand, from his attempt to overcome the loneliness and on the other hand, from his attempt to back to the syncretic state that people are still embryos. Obviously, yet, Holden can only find this state in his fantasy. Hence, Holden imagines being a catcher in the rye.”When speaki

14、ng of the reasons of Holdens mental crisis ， after doing the analyzing and proving work, Luo concludes that Holdens consciousness，from the perspective of peoples consciousness and unconsciousness, is the fake consciousness which consist of fictions and fantasies of this society whereas the content o

15、f his unconsciousness is mainly real.For one thing, Holden represses his unconsciousness to prevent it from being his consciousnessfor the reason that he fears to plunge himself into complete loneliness for deviating from the mainstream of social character For another, Holden is scared of being comp

16、letely cut off from thehumanity, wholly loosing people s morals and behavioral，prSinOcipthleast he triedto enlarge his scope of unconsciousness. Thus, the clash and the contradiction between society and humanity bring about Holden s mentaclrisis. Holden loses his balance psychologicallyCritic Fang C

17、heng in his essay ”Escape，Explore， Resist and Despair-The Children Figure in American Literature ”points out that”Holden, whose resistance is teemed with disappo in tme nt and impote nee .The final result of Holde n is absolutely desperate for human life which leads to mental crisis and is sent to m

18、ental institutio”n. Two seholars, Qin Xiaomeng and Hou Weirui， respeetively researeh Holdens language eharaeteristies and they get similar eonelusion”Holdens language is typieal and has its own individual feature,”Hou says,”generally speaking, his language is not only vulgar, unelear, laeking of ere

19、ativity but with imprint hallmarked by his sehool edueation for many years as well. Yet, the novel imagination and the peeuliar ereation in his language also eould produee surprising effee”t.2 Foreign situation of researehThere are also many foreign experts paying their attention to the study of the

20、 novel. On its publieation, The Cateher in the Rye is highly foeused by the seholars. The aeademie erities at the novel didnt prosper u n ftifl tti eh se miTdhe faet thatthe novel had beeome a best seller among adoleseents rubbed. Some erities the wrong way but eonfirmed the opinion of others that w

21、ith The Cateher in the Rye they had a new elassie on their handThe analysis of this novel eovers many aspeets and layers，the first is the eomparative studies, in whieh the erities eompare The Cateher in the Rye with otherworks. The first systematie eomparison of The Cateher in the Rye andThe Adventu

22、res in Literary Continuity. In this essay Braneh says that the two novels are elearly related in narrative pattern and style, eharaeterization of the hero and eritieal import (Braneh, 957:217). Moreover, Braneh argues thatHuekleberry Finn and the Cateher in the Rye share eertain ethieal and soeial a

23、ttitudes. Yet Salingers eritieal view assumes aof Huekleberry Finn is Edgar Branehs eMsasrakyTwain and JDSalinger: A studybest efforcultural determinism that in Huckleberry Finn, although always present, permits freedom through self-guidance (Branch,1957: 216)Branch sees the ending of The Catcher in

24、 the Rye as pessimistic and that of Huckleberry Finn as optimistic. Besides, he says that Huckleberry Finn, in short, recognizes necessity and freedom, the restrictions limiting moral accomplishment and its possibility. The Catcher in the Rye leaves US doubtful that the individual, even assisted by

25、the analyst s ever truly escape the double trap of society and self(Branch,1957:214-215). What further contributes to the underlying despair of Salinger hesel. SO Br anch says, is that Holden has not matured or learned anything by the end of the novel and that Holden wants to remain forever the catc

26、her in the rye (Branch, 1957: 215).The second layer is the perspective of psychoanalysis, The most positive of the early academic analyses is entitled J D Salinger: Some Crazy Cliff(1956) . It was written by Arthur Heiserman and James EMiller who bestowed epic grandeur on The Catch in the Rye when t

27、hey asserted that the novel belongs to the ancient and honorable narrative traditionof th(HQiuestrian and Miller,1956: 196) . Thetwo critics saw similarities between The Catcher in the Rye and such masterworks of world literature as Homers Odyssey and James Joyces Ulysses and such American classics

28、Mark Twain s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and E Scott Fitzgerald s The Great Gatsby. They said about Holden Caulfield that unlike other American knights errant, Holden seeks Virtue second to Love, and they explained Holdens quest by saying that he is driven toward love of his fellow man (Heise

29、rman and Miller,1956: 197-198)The third layer is about the characters. Some other readings interpret The Catcher in the Rye in more rigid psychoanalytical terms. James Bryan s essay, The Psychological Structure of The Catcher in the Rye is a Freudian analysis which defines Holden s neurosis as “a fr

30、anticneed to save his sister from himself(Bryan, 1974: 107). Bryan basesthis notion on the psychoanalytical axiom that “asister is often the first replacement for the mother as love object, and that normal maturation guides the boy form the sister to other woman. ”Yet, Holden has a serious problem b

31、ecause“Holdenssexuality is swaying precariously between reversion maturation and maturation”(Bryan, 1974: 107). Fortunately, so Bryan contends, “ Phoebse responsesto Holden ssecret needs become the catalyst for both his breakdown and his recovery”(Bryan, 1974: 111). The most fashionable psychologica

32、l study of the novel is James Mellard sessay “the Disappearing Subject: A Lacanian Reading of The Catcher in the Rye.”Mellard shares Carl Strauchs point of view that Holden eventually cures himself. According to Mellard, Holden passes through the Lacanian stages of “ alienation and”“ separationfro”m

33、 the “Other “but eventually achieves symbolic wholeness with that “Other (Mellara,203-204). Mallard describes that when Holden becomes whole in this way. Restored to the only sort of fullness that shall ever be available to one who has acceded to the symbolic , Holden is gripped by joy at this momen

34、t. Sitting on a bench in the sudden rain watching Phoebe go around on the carrousel, at final moment of the main narrative, Holden feels unbounded pleasure, perhaps a Lacanianjouissance”(Mellard, 211) Reacting to the argument of earlier critics that when Holden tells his story, he is a patient in a

35、mental institution， Mellard says that ”on the evidence of the story he tells, he no longer has any real need for therapy. He would appear to be as healthy, aswhole,as sane as anyone ever might be”(Mellard,211).All in all, there are many different opinions about the novel s theme. Each has meaningful

36、 basis. Luo Shiping who has been motioned above in his essay the Counter-Culture Language in The Catcher in the Rye”associates Holdens language with the movement of counter-culture in America after the World War II and then concludes that Holdens language actually is the counter-culture language, so that Holden is a young mall who speaks the counter-culture language.Bibliography1 Alsen, Eberhard (2002) A Readers Guide to J D Salinger Westport Connect