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/lit/ - Literature

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3860975 No.3860975 [Reply] [Original]

Why do Americans make books like Catcher in the Rye obligatory reading? It pisses me seeing so many people (not here) listing it as their favorite book, even going as far as claiming it's the best ever when it's probably the only one that they read (besides the bible).

Teaching Literature with American books is akin to the teach History with an American history book. Perhaps it could be excusable if you are from a country with a history spanning millennia, same as if you are from a country with a strong literary tradition. America has neither.

>> No.3860978

>>3860975
>If you've only read one book you can't have a favorite book!

>> No.3860985

>>3860978
Having a favorite implies selecting one among others of the same kind, so no. If I only tried vanilla ice cream I couldn't claim it's my favorite before I compare it with chocolate or strawberry.

>> No.3860989

>>3860975
>>3860978
>>3860985
Why is it so easy to troll /lit/?

>> No.3860997

Not even an American, but why be so mad?

Catcher in the Rye is short, easy to read, it appeals to teens and adults alike, so it makes a good staple for high school reading lists. It might be steeped in western ideas but it's not exactly AMURICA the novel.

And besides, even if there is little history in the states, most modern /lit/ IS American, and your average high school kid would much rather read something they can relate to than say the Russians.

>> No.3861000

>>3860975
Hey as much as I hate Murrica, american literature is top-tier. All american counter-culture art is pretty darn good.

>> No.3861003

>>3860989
Because /lit/ largely takes candidness as a guiding precept so as to ensure that discussion doesn't descend into an endlessly self-referential nothingness. Maybe.

>> No.3861010

it's not a crime to come from a tradition as long as there is proper respect. every viewpoint is limited and prejudiced, there's no escaping that. we're biased enough without ideology, and I personally feel like the further limitations that we self-impose (nationalism political identity religious beliefs) can be helpful tools as long as they don't formulate disrespect.

but fuck you if you think America doesn't have a strong literary tradition

>> No.3861014

>>3860989
we're probably more earnest and less isolated than any other board culture

>> No.3861022

>>3861000
>Fluxus
>Beats
>folk revival
>American psych rock
>good

>> No.3861047

>>3861022
wow cool you covered like 1% of the late 50s early 60s great argument

>> No.3861049

>>3860997
Catcher in the Rye is a gateway book of the worst kind. It's a bad series, a clusterfuck of story and characterization that isn't very well done by any aspect, but which attempts to compensate for its weaknesses by adding in excessive shipping faggotry and DRUNKNESS. The normal anon can see this as the shit it is, and may enjoy it, hate it or be indifferent to it, but all the while recognizing that the series itself, regardless of their opinion, is plain bad.

However, these very aspects that try to smear over the shit of its core make it a breeding ground for aspie, unsociable underageb& faggots who engage in every kind of faggotry both online and in the real world. The underdeveloped characters all trying their hardest to look cool, the profanity, peculiar, colorful writing style, the whole Salinger faggotry and everything about the Catcher in the Rye world fuels their escapist fantasies, while the pity-party character backgrounds, emphasis on revenge, and overall preachiness of the series make it fit just right with the mary-sueish drives of your average preteen and his sense of unwarranted self-importance towards the world. Exactly the kind of shit that makes little kiddies and underageb& retards eat this shit right the fuck up.

Catcher in the Rye is basically THE book to attract the most hated book fanbase known to /lit/, which is why, regardless of individual opinions, it is the responsibility of every anon to troll the fuck out of this show and everyone who likes it, and ensure that no Catcher in the Rye threads ever encourage the newfriends to show their faces here.

>> No.3861062

>>3861010
It has a strong literary tradition in the same way it has a strong soccer tradition when compared to Canada

>> No.3861065

>>3861049
2/10 you forgot to change series and show you dolt.

>> No.3861067

>America has no history
America is older than a lot of European countries. Italy and Germany come to mind.

>> No.3861069
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3861069

>>3861022
>any of those
>bad

Death or exile.

>> No.3861070

>>3861049
you didn't like it and you're ashamed of the fact that you were ever younger than you are right now

i appreciate that you are willing to write such a long justification, but what you're saying is really besides the point

>> No.3861080

>>3861070
Actually I liked Naruto

>> No.3861076

>>3861067
America doesn't exactly have a Nibelungenlied or Commedia though.

>> No.3861077

>>3861070
oh is this the naruto thing im responding to? oh well, still applies

>> No.3861107

Hey man, don't group all of America into one category - it's a ginormous country with many different cultures in different states and parts of the country.
For example, I live in Massachusetts in the Northeast, and the education and literary exposure I received in my education was phenomenal. This could be due to the fact that New England is basically the college capital of the US. But regardless, there is no way you can accurately equate the shitty, MURIKAN, bible-thumping schools, both public and private, to the amazing schools of the North East. I mean comon, we have the Ivy Leagues for colleges (not to mention hundreds of other spectacular colleges and universities), but also high schools such as Phillips Exeter and Andover, to name two.

tl;dr, Don't group all of America and its education/literary experience into one category- its too diverse

>> No.3861113

One thing I love about this book is teenagers read it and they think Holden's got the world figured out.

Then they grow up and their views on the book start to diverge. They come to realise that Holden's view points are overly simplistic and a bit dumb. At this point the idiot says "well Holden sucks, the author's clearly an idiot, what a terrible book" . The smart person on the other hand realises that Salinger was in his 30s when he wrote it and Holden was never meant to be anything but naive.

>> No.3861162

>a country with a history spanning millennia

But there are no countries like that. Shit, even Canada is older than most countries in the world.

>hurr durr some romans took a dump here a few thousand years ago muh national history

>> No.3862228

>>3860975
I disagree with you. I'm an American, and I've read quite a bit. I list Kurt Vonnegut, Joseph Heller, and Edgar Allen Poe among my favorite writers. They were Americans, and, in my opinion, some of the greatest writers to ever live.

On a separate note, I know that you're just a troll, but couldn't you at least put some effort into it? You're pretty terrible at it.

>> No.3862236
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3862236

Education is fucked in America, thats why. My senior English teacher was a feminist latina cunt who made us read a load of propaganda garbage.

>> No.3862278

>>3860975
>being this yuropoorian

>> No.3862279

>>3860975
Well, Catcher in the Rye is just one of the most prominent examples of after-war literature. Beyond that, Holden is a teenager which also speaks to a teenager being made to read it in school.
The problem is that people seem to have a completely wrong idea about Holden and either love him because "he sees past all the, like, sheeple" or hate him because "he's such a pretentious cunt".
Anyway. I really do like it. I though it was funny at times and Holden is easy to empathize with, when you realize that it's not him hating everyone else, it's him being afraid of growing up, but knowing that he has to.
But it's not the best book, just a good one.

>> No.3862295

>>3862228
A much as I like Vonnegut and Heller, if someone made a list of the top 200 best writers to ever live I seriously doubt that they appeared in it.

Out of curiosity, do you only read in English? Not being passive aggressive here, I swear

>> No.3862303

>>3862236
Shouldn't you be sucking Ayn Rand's meaty cock?

>> No.3862310

I'm a Yuro who only read Catcher in the Rye when I was in my early 20s, and I thought it was brilliant. Salinger is one of the few writers I've read who can pull off sentimentality without being corny.

>> No.3862315

It would be absurd for American educators to ignore the likes of Poe, Twain, and Thoreau. About as absurd as ignoring Homer, Chaucer, and Shakespeare. I have trouble thinking anyone could sincerely believe that Americans should ignore American literature. That's just reactionary anti-Americanism taken to an anti-intellectual extreme.

>> No.3862429

>>3861067
Being officially recognized as a country =/= culture

Sorry sweetie, but that's just not how things work.

>> No.3863846

>>3862315
I never read any twain or thoreau in school

>> No.3863848

le epic trol :^)

>> No.3864949

>>3860989

Because on this board trolls are rare. The reason being that their inane actions are usually picked up quite easily. It is in the troll feeling little or nothing that implicitly makes it the case that they are dumb in the first place, and likely immature as hell to boot, as they haven't grown the ability to see beyond their own insular (or at least insular community-like) nature. Basically when a troll thinks he's won, the majority of /lit/ realise how stupid they are so most trolls don't bother.

Trolls can't usually sustain the depth of conversation necessary to be discrete about their intended actions (see: spotting the troll). They do as the OP did and lead with one big point and then lack the finesse to respond cogently with trolltastic comments.

>> No.3864959

>>3860975
>implying we don't teach history with an American history book

I can't speak for all high schools, but at my school, we had literally no world history. We just did American history over and over and over.

>> No.3864972

>>3861113
This.

The reason so many people list it as their favorite books is that they read it as a teenage, thought Holden was a hero who had the whole world figured out, and are too stupid to reevaluate it as they've grown and still think Holden's awesome even though they haven't touched the book in 30 years. It's basically the fiction equivalent of the people who love to quote the Bible but have never actually read it.

>> No.3864982

>>3862429
True, but the American culture is really just a branching off of several European cultures. American literature describes a wide frame of time and place in the history literature.