Pick out and translate the sentences with the active vocabulary. Learn the words and phrases and use them while discussing the chapters.

CONTENTS

Introduction. 4

Part 1. Jerome David Salinger’s Life and Career 4

Part 2. Salinger’s Novel “The Catcher in the Rye”. 5

Part 3. The Language and Style of “The Catcher in the Rye”. 5

Assignment 1 (Chapters 1-3) 5

Vocabulary Practice. 5

Questions and Tasks. 5

Project Work. 5

Assignment 2 (Chapters 4–8) 5

Vocabulary Practice. 5

Questions and Tasks. 5

Project Work. 5

Assignment 3 (Chapters 9–14) 5

Vocabulary Practice. 5

Questions and Tasks. 5

Project Work. 5

Assignment 4 (Chapters 15–18) 5

Vocabulary Practice. 5

Questions And Tasks. 5

Project Work. 5

Assignment 5 (Chapters 19–22) 5

Vocabulary Practice. 5

Questions and Tasks. 5

Project Work. 5

Assignment 6 (Chapters 23–26) 5

Vocabulary Practice. 5

Questions and Tasks. 5

Project Work. 5

Review Questions and Tasks for the Final Discussion of the Novel 5

Part 1. General Discussion. 5

Part 2. Expressing Your Opinion. 5

Part 3. Developing Character Analysis. 5

Part 4. Acting Out 5

Glossary For “The Catcher in the Rye”. 5

Keys to the Exercises. 5

Appendix 1. 5

Appendix 2. 5

Appendix 3. 5

Bibliography. 5

INTRODUCTION

PART 1. Jerome David Salinger’s Life and Career

1. What do you know of J.D. Salinger? Read the following article about Salinger’s life and career and answer the questions that follow.

Salinger, J(erome) D(avid) (Jan. 1, 1919, New York City – Jan. 27, 2010, Cornish, NH) Writer whose novel The Catcher in the Rye won him legions of admirers.

Salinger’s stories began to appear in periodicals in 1940. He served in the wartime army, and was hospitalized for stress. His name and writing style became increasingly associated with the New Yorker, which published almost all his later stories. Some of the best made use of his wartime experiences: “ For Esmé – With Love and Squalor” (1950) describes a soldier’s poignant encounter with two British children, and “ A Perfect Day for Bananafish” (1948) concerns the suicide of the sensitive, despairing veteran Seymour Glass.

Major critical and popular recognition came with the publication of The Catcher in the Rye in 1951. Its humor and colorful language place it in the tradition of Huckleberry Finn and the stories of Ring Lardner, but its hero, like most of Salinger’s younger characters, views his life with an added dimension of pre­cious self-consciousness. The book has sold millions of copies in the decades since its publication. Nine Stories (1953) added to his reputation.

Eastern mysticism began to color Salinger’s writings in the 1950s. Franny and Zooey (1961) brought together two earlier New Yorker stories; both deal with the Glass family, as do the two stories in Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction (1963). He moved to Cornish, N.H., in 1953, and his reclusive habits in his later years made his personal life a matter of intense speculation among devotees. Successive candid memoirs by his young lover (1998) and his daughter (2000) evoked intense controversy.

From Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of American Writers, pp. 354 – 355.

What is J.D. Salinger famous for? Have you read anything by this author? Give a summary of his life and career.

Try to find more facts about J.D. Salinger on the Internet and provide some information to the following headings.

Family and Social Background

Education

Wartime experience

Marriages and family life

The first and the last published works

Screen adaptations

Literary influences

Legal conflicts

Salinger’s official site on the Web

3. Make up J.D. Salinger’s timeline featuring the major events and dates in his biography.

PART 2. Salinger’s Novel “The Catcher in the Rye”

Read the following article about the novel. Summarize its main ideas.

The Catcher in the Rye Novel by J.D. Salinger, published in 1951. It details two days in the life of 16-year-old Holden Caulfield after he has been expelled from prep school. Confused and disillusioned, he wanders New York City searching for truth and railing against the “phoniness” of the adult world. He finds an old girlfriend Sally, but discovers the psychological gulf that has opened between them. Though anxious to avoid his parents, he manages to meet his beloved sister, Phoebe, who tries unsuccessfully to allay his black view of the world. He contacts a former English teacher, but flees after the teacher makes homosexual advances to him. He ends up in a psychiatrist’s office, exhausted and emotionally ill. Influential and widely acclaimed (whose title, from a Robert Burns poem, reflects Holden’s misreading of the poem), the novel has struck a powerful chord with generations of young readers.

From Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary of American Writers, pp. 466 – 467.

2. Read a few curious facts about Salinger’s novel “The Catcher in the Rye”. What do they add to our understanding and appreciation of the novel?

A.

“The Catcher in the Rye” was turned down both by the publishing house that solicited it, Harcour Brace, and The New Yorker. The magazine had published six of J.D. Salinger’s short stories. But when the editors were shown the novel, they told Salinger that the precocity of the four Caulfield children was not believable, and that the writing was showoffy. Salinger’s agent took the book to Little, Brown, where it was published in July, 1951 to become a bestseller. It sells still some 250 000 copies annually.

B.

Holden Caulfield first shows up in Salinger’s work in 1941, in a story entitled “Slight Rebellion off Madison,” which features a character called Holden (he is not a narrator) and his girlfriend, Sally Hayes. The story was bought by The New Yorker but not published until 1946. And there are characters in other stories that Salinger produced in mid-forties, for example the Caulfield family is the subject of two stories, “This Sandwich Has No Mayonnaise” and “I’m Crazy”.

C.

Parallels between Holden Caulfield’s and Salinger’s life are evident, especially as their social background and educational careers are concerned. They both came from middle class families, grew up in New York City, attended several schools. Scholars often compare Pencey Prep to Valley Forge Military Academy, which Salinger attended from the ages of 15 to 17.

D.

Salinger had a deep relationship with New York City, and the city itself is a character in “The Catcher in the Rye.” The novel can almost serve as a guide to the city of a certain time. Several maps have been made that can go with the novel to trace Holden’s perambulations around Manhattan, even to nonexistent places like the Edmont Hotel.

E.

“The Catcher in the Rye” has always been the subject of intense censorship. In 1976, a legislative hearing in Oklahoma City involved a local censorship group seeking to prevent a bookseller from vending the book. In the 1980s, controversy emerged again in Pennsylvania when the book was assigned in a local literature class. Parents objected, and the school board voted to ban the book. Objections continue to this day. Some object to the frank discussion of sexuality, others to the main character’s godlessness, and some simply to the portrayal of misanthropy.

F.

Numerous literary works have referenced “The Catcher in the Rye”. For example, in John Fowles’s novel “The Collector” (1963) Miranda encourages her kidnapper Clegg to read this novel, thinking he might relate to Holden Caulfield’s alienation. However, Clegg finds Holden’s actions unrealistic given Holden’s wealth and status, and “[doesn’t] see much point in it”.

3. “The Catcher in the Rye” appeals to its readers because of its universality, but it is important that it takes place mostly in Manhattan (New York City) at the crossroads of the 1940s and 1950s within a specific historical setting. What is the cultural, social and political background of the novel?

PART 3. The Language and Style of “The Catcher
in the Rye”

According to many who have read “The Catcher in the Rye” the magic of it is largely due to the authenticity of the language used by the main character.

People and language

What we call a language exists in different forms or varieties which we choose and use in different situations and for different purposes. In other words, language exists as a complex of varieties. Language varieties may be situational in character. This distinction is evident in opposition between formal and informal language. Formal situations are characterized by greater care with which people choose ways of pronunciation, “correct” words and grammar. Informal situations are characterized by an easy and relaxed way of verbal interaction. Another way to describe a language variety is to relate it to a particular social group or a particular speaking style of an individual.

In the novel Holden’s speech reflects the typical teenage speech habits of his contemporaries. In other words, Holden uses teenage slang.

What is slang?

Slang is an informal variety of language. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as: “language of a highly colloquial type, considered as below the level of educated standard speech, and consisting either of new words or of current words employed in some special sense”.

The use of slang establishes a sense of commonality between the user and the listener as belonging to the same “tribe”. It provides catchy and memorable labels for us versus them. With slang, each generation or subculture group has the chance to shape and propagate its own lexicon and doing so to exercise originality and imagination.

One more advantage is that slang is much more effective in comparison with the standard language when talking about “problematic” issues such as sex, vice and etc.

It should be remembered that slang possesses a short-lived nature and must constantly regenerate as a body of speech.

Youth is one of the most powerful stimuli for creation and distribution of slang. Youth slang is often a defiant gesture of resistance and an emblem of tribe identity. In American English the slang of youth exerts enormous power.

Typical features of Holden’s speech:

1) careless pronunciation as in “callin'”, “comin'”, “got’em”;

2) loose expressions such as “and all”, “or something”, “or anything”;

3) repetition of favourite words and phrases without elaborating on the topic: “stupid”, “phony”, “lousy”;

4) “bad words” and vulgarity: “hell”, “ass”, “goddam”, “bastard”;

5) specific word-building patterns with –y: “Christmasy”, “pimply”;

6) non-grammatical sentence structure. Cf.: I’d woke him up. / I woke he and his wife. / I hardly didn’t even know.

Why do people use slang?

Read the list of reasons for slang usage suggested by the British lexicographer Eric Partridge (1894 – 1979). Which of them could explain the peculiarities of Holden’s speech?

People use slang:

1) in sheer high spirits, by the young in heart as well as by the young in years, “just for the fun of the thing”, in playfulness or waggishness;

2) as an exercise either of wit and ingenuity or in humour;

3) to be “different”, to be novel;

4) to be picturesque (either positively or negatively);

5) to be unmistakably arresting, even startling;

6) to escape from clichés, or to be brief and concise;

7) to enrich the language;

8) to lend the air of solidity, concreteness, to the abstract; of earthiness to the idealistic, of immediacy to the remote;

9) a) to reject, refuse; b) to reduce the solemnity and excessive seriousness; c) to soften the tragedy, or to mask the ugliness;

10) to speak to the inferior, to amuse a superior, or to be on a colloquial level with either one’s audience;

11) for ease of social intercourse;

12) to induce either friendliness or intimacy;

13) to be “in the swim”;

14) to show that someone is not “in the swim”;

15) to be secret − not understood by those around.

Holden’s Words Test

Match the “Holden word” on the left with the meaning on the right.

1. lousy	A. thrown out, lost the job
2. touchy	B. money
3. crumby	C. a crazy person
4. very big deal	D. impressed with
5. dough	E. very good, pleasant
6. it killed me	F. excited and pleased by something
7. flunk	G. garbage, nonsense
8. stiff	H. got me angry
9. madman	I. dirty, not well kept
10. moron	J. not interesting, old-fashioned
11. strictly for the birds	K. very stupid person
12. kick out of it	L. play, fool around
13. corny	M. important, significant
14. phony	N. loud continuous noise
15. got the ax	O. sensitive
16. crap	P. dead body
17. racket	Q. hypocrite, two-faced
18. horse around	R. is of no interest
19. drove me crazy	S. bad, of low quality, not nice
20. swell	T. fail

Language and individuality

Individuality in language is a complex matter, arising from variations in sex, physique, personality, background, interests, and experience. In everyday verbal interaction we normally do not pay much attention to what language can reveal about individuality. The fact can be explained by the main function of language which consists in sharing meaning. In this aspect differences in usage caused by individuality might get in the way of mutual understanding. But there are a number of important cases where individuality in the use of language − a personal style, as it is usually called, − is considered to be a matter of importance, and worthy of study in its own right. One of these cases is when we study stylistic features that relate to constraints on language use identified by the authors’ preferences.

What is the author’s style?

The author’s style is formed up by a complex of features. It is revealed in the theme and the message of the story. It is reflected in the choice of the point of view. It is shaped by stylistic devices. It makes the story have a tone.

For many students it seems difficult to define an individual author’s style as they have to analyze correlations between the creative concepts of the authors and the language of their works. However, the way to define it is to read books.

ASSIGNMENT 1 (Chapters 1-3)

VOCABULARY PRACTICE

Pick out and translate the sentences with the active vocabulary. Learn the words and phrases and use them while discussing the chapters.

To mold smb / smth into smth

To have a very good academic rating

To flunk a subject

To apply oneself

A dormitory, campus, academic building

A senior, junior

To carry a subject

2. In British and American English different words can be used for the same idea, or the same word can have different meanings. Give British equivalents to the following Americanisms:

movie (n.)

flunk/ flunk out (v.)

dorm (dormitory) (n.)

subway (n.)

closet (n.)

to be sore

buck (n.)

vacation (n.)

3. Here are some idioms with the verbs “hit” and “shoot”. Match them with their definitions. Which idioms are used in the chapters? Recall the situations with them.

a. to have a casual conversation (infml)

b. forcefully destroy an argument or proposal

c. inadequately make a situation worse for oneself; demonstrate gross incompetence

d. set out on a journey

e. suddenly become angry (infml)

f. go to bed (infml)

4. Look up the definitions of these verbs in an English-English dictionary. Find out the common semantic element of their meanings and discuss their stylistic connotations. Make up your own sentences with the verbs, note the example which occurs in Chapter 1: The whole team ostracized me the whole way back on the train.

Reject, rebuff, snub, ostracize, shun.

5. Look up the definitions of these words and phrases in an English-English dictionary. In what meanings are they used in the context of the chapters? If necessary consult Glossary on page 43. Translate the sentences in which they are used in the chapters.

Job (n.), hotshot (adj.), faggy (adj.), ratty (adj.), knock smb out, hate smb’s guts, be a goner

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