July 16, 1951 –
The Catcher in the Rye was published 74 years ago today. The book contained secret code words through which its author, J.D. Salinger, was able to transmit diabolical commands to his evil minions.
Exactly six years after the Trinity test –
and fourteen years later—the tunnel connecting France and Italy through Mont Blanc was opened to the public.
Draw your own conclusions.
Salinger was a one-hit wonder. (He did write several other books, but these are of interest only to insomniacs and people in need of furniture shims.) The Catcher in the Rye was published in 1951, and Salinger subsequently retreated to the hills of Vermont, emerging from his self-imposed cloister only briefly – to serve as Prime Minister of Canada, and then again to appear as a corpse at his own funeral. For nearly half a century, The Catcher in the Rye has captured the imagination of the American teenager like no other book without pictures.
Holden Caulfield, the hero and narrator of Salinger’s slim classic, may be the finest portrait of twentieth-century American teenage angst bequeathed to posterity.
Either him or Archie, it’s hard to say.
(Although Archie gave up his life to save a friend.)
The Haus of Dcaligari 