Holden Caulfield

Holden Caulfield was a flâneur . That's not generally how we think of him, this archetype of adolescent alienation, this detester of phonies, this poor little lost boy whose voice - by turns knowing, childlike, cynical and bereft - drives J.D. Salinger's iconic 1951 novel, "The Catcher in the Rye. " Yet, from the moment, about a quarter of the way through the book, he arrives by train at Manhattan's now-demolished original Pennsylvania Station building,...

Some advice for downtown hotels Regarding "Urbane Renewal" by Christopher Reynolds [May 2]: Why don't the downtown L.A. hotels offer a getaway package for local residents? The hotels could tie it into a concert or sports event and pick up their getaway guests at their door and whisk them to the hotel. Granted, these hotels would lose their huge parking fees, but they may entice even more Angelenos to have a staycation. David Reid, Hollywood Of planes, pets and allergies Regarding "Fido Takes Flight," On the Spot [May 2]

Holden Caulfield is exactly one year older than I am. He entered my life when I was 15 and brilliantly unself-aware in the hyper self-awareness of the late '60s. It never occurred to me, a public-school good-girl A student, that I was a thing like him. His messy world terrified and thrilled me. He was a boy I would have hung out with--a best-friend sort of a boy. And I may even have fallen in love with him. But the lonely world he inhabited seemed to have little to do with mine.

On the heels of Holden Caulfield You did it! Bested the New York Times for the most interesting article of the weekend. I take both papers and am usually drawn to the N.Y. Times, but not this time. Ulin's retracing of Holden's inner and outer journey led to me retracing mine. What better job can a writer do? -- Ashby Jones, Tustin Walking in Holden Caulfield's footsteps through Manhattan is an inspired piece of writing. I also am from New York. Although I never lived in Manhattan, reading Ulin's narrative made me acutely homesick for Midtown in the '50s, but most of all for the soul of Manhattan.

Bob Goldthwait speaks more softly these days and is even less inclined to carry a big shtick. The comedian--whom many might identify as "not Sam Kinison, but the other guy who screams"--has tuned down the bellowing and turned up the thoughtfulness. The shift was telegraphed during the very first minute of his show at Anaheim's Celebrity Theatre Saturday: "Bobcat" greeted the crowd with some trademark hollering, then quickly added, "OK, we got the obligatory screaming out of the way.

Once in a dozen blue moons a fictional personage comes along who remains unforgettable, not so much by character or action as by voice. So distinctive is this voice that it turns into a perduring character itself; and by that fact, it is impossible to borrow. Except as deliberate pastiche, we'd find it hard to accept another figure with the intonations of Mr. Micawber, Mr. Dooley, Bertie Wooster, Huckleberry Finn or Holden Caulfield.

Excerpts Here is the opening of J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye," narrated by Holden Caulfield, a tormented prep-school flunk-out who is headed for mental collapse. If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

J.D. Salinger, as you may have read over the last few weeks, is inveighing against "phonies" yet again. Fifty-eight years since the publication of "The Catcher in the Rye" -- indeed, 44 years since he published anything -- the famously reclusive and litigious author, now 90, recovering from hip surgery and totally deaf, has taken legal action to stop the U.S. publication of a Swedish novel called "Sixty Years Later: Coming Through Rye."

REGARDING "And We're Off" [April 30]: After reading Rosemary McClure's article and seeing that magnificent and positively adorable shot of Smarty Jones "smiling," one would have to agree that "a horse is at least human" -- Holden Caulfield's remark from "The Catcher in the Rye." CHRISTINE GRON Newhall

An author being sued by J.D. Salinger for copyright infringement asked a judge Monday to let his book be published. Attorneys for Fredrik Colting, who writes under the name John David California, submitted a 33-page "defendants' memorandum" in federal court in Manhattan, arguing that his novel "60 Years Later" is a legally protected commentary and parody of "The Catcher in the Rye," and not an unauthorized sequel, as Salinger has alleged. Colting's novel tells of a "Mr. C," presumed to be Holden Caulfield as an old man, and of an author named "J.D.

Holden Caulfield was a flâneur . That's not generally how we think of him, this archetype of adolescent alienation, this detester of phonies, this poor little lost boy whose voice — by turns knowing, childlike, cynical and bereft — drives J.D. Salinger's iconic 1951 novel, "The Catcher in the Rye." Yet, from the moment, about a quarter of the way through the book, he arrives by train at Manhattan's now-demolished original Pennsylvania Station building, he is our guide on one of the 20th century's great literary walking tours.

Excerpts Here is the opening of J.D. Salinger's "The Catcher in the Rye," narrated by Holden Caulfield, a tormented prep-school flunk-out who is headed for mental collapse. If you really want to hear about it, the first thing you'll probably want to know is where I was born, and what my lousy childhood was like, and how my parents were occupied and all before they had me, and all that David Copperfield kind of crap, but I don't feel like going into it, if you want to know the truth.

Antihero: Someone who rejects conventional morality, suffers from indecision, lacks qualities, is weak, epitomizes human frailty. Looks a lot like me. Is dead. I've been working on a short novel, more or less autobiographical, in which the fictional me is something of an antihero.

J.D. Salinger, as you may have read over the last few weeks, is inveighing against "phonies" yet again. Fifty-eight years since the publication of "The Catcher in the Rye" -- indeed, 44 years since he published anything -- the famously reclusive and litigious author, now 90, recovering from hip surgery and totally deaf, has taken legal action to stop the U.S. publication of a Swedish novel called "Sixty Years Later: Coming Through Rye."

An author being sued by J.D. Salinger for copyright infringement asked a judge Monday to let his book be published. Attorneys for Fredrik Colting, who writes under the name John David California, submitted a 33-page "defendants' memorandum" in federal court in Manhattan, arguing that his novel "60 Years Later" is a legally protected commentary and parody of "The Catcher in the Rye," and not an unauthorized sequel, as Salinger has alleged. Colting's novel tells of a "Mr. C," presumed to be Holden Caulfield as an old man, and of an author named "J.D.

REGARDING "And We're Off" [April 30]: After reading Rosemary McClure's article and seeing that magnificent and positively adorable shot of Smarty Jones "smiling," one would have to agree that "a horse is at least human" -- Holden Caulfield's remark from "The Catcher in the Rye." CHRISTINE GRON Newhall

Few value their privacy as dearly as J.D. Salinger. Now his daughter, Margaret, is putting her own price on that commodity, joining his former lover, Joyce Maynard, by offering letters from him to the highest bidder. Margaret Salinger, nicknamed Peggy, plans to auction a cache of 32 letters at a Sotheby's auction in New York next month. The correspondence, which began when Peggy was 2 and ended when she was 36, document a relationship marked by turmoil. The letters are "truly extraordinary," said Marsha Malinowski of Sotheby's in New York, adding that in the latter part of the correspondence, Salinger "becomes his character.

Few value their privacy as dearly as J.D. Salinger. Now his daughter, Margaret, is putting her own price on that commodity, joining his former lover, Joyce Maynard, by offering letters from him to the highest bidder. Margaret Salinger, nicknamed Peggy, plans to auction a cache of 32 letters at a Sotheby's auction in New York next month. The correspondence, which began when Peggy was 2 and ended when she was 36, document a relationship marked by turmoil. The letters are "truly extraordinary," said Marsha Malinowski of Sotheby's in New York, adding that in the latter part of the correspondence, Salinger "becomes his character.