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Editors' Note: The ALAN editorial team would like to join the many voices throughout the world who lament the passing of J. D. Salinger. Whether or not it was his intention to write a young adult novel, he certainly did.
In June 2009, a venerable work of 20th-century American fiction became the focal point of a legal squabble and, in so doing, rekindled an argument about the place and value of J. D. Salinger's Catcher in the Rye in American culture. First, the controversy: on June 16th, 2009, the New York Times reported that once again, Salinger was suing "to protect his privacy and the sanctity of his work" (Schuessler). The suit involved the publication of 60 Years Later: Coming through the Rye, by J. D. Calif ornia-the nom de plume of a 33-year-old humor writer from Sweden- and portrays characters that can only be Salinger and his fictional protagonist Holden Caulfield. In fact, the copyright page includes the description, "An Unauthorized Fictional Examination of the Relationship between J. D. Salinger and His Most Famous Character."
Four days later, the Times reported that a judge had granted a temporary restraining order against publication of the book in the US, thus sparing readers a reunion in which Caulfield is "a lonely old codger who escapes from a retirement home and his beloved younger sister, Phoebe, [who is] a drug addict sinking into dementia" (Schuessler). The article didn't stop with the facts of the issue. It went on to raise the question of whether or not this once highly popular, critically esteemed, and oft-censored novel was losing its appeal for the young people of this new century. Teachers interviewed about this phenomenon confirmed that most students now find Caulfield passive, immature, even "whiny." In fact, the once-daring language was described by some as "grating and dated." One teacher from Illinois summed it up this way: "Holden's passivity is especially galling and perplexing to many present-day students. ... In general, they do not have much sympathy for alienated antiheroes; they are more focused on distinguishing themselves in society as it is presently constituted than in trying to change it" (Schuessler).
The contention that Catcher is passé brought a few fighting rejoinders from the Times readers, who chose to...