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Carly's avatar

What genre (or subgenre) would you classify J.D. Salinger's writing?

Asked by Carly (4555points) May 22nd, 2011

I’m giving a presentation on several literary elements of Salingers work, but Im still a bit stuck on what genre his work fits into. I have to include this for my project, so theres no way I can avoid it. :/

Any thoughts?

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10 Answers

TexasDude's avatar

According to wikipedia “novel” in and of itself is a genre, and it is the genre that Catcher in the Rye falls into.

I’d go so far as to say “proto-young adult,” but I’ve never read any of his other works.

anartist's avatar

Catcher in the Rye has a taste of the Jewish angst that appears so vividly in the later work by Philip Roth, Portnoy’s Complaint. It is somewhat disguised as Holden seems to be attending a prep school that is an old-WASP bastion. You can see it more in see of the short stories, as the story in which a young girl comes home to ask why it is so horrible to be called a “kite.”

zenvelo's avatar

Mid 20th Century Urban Angst.

the100thmonkey's avatar

Existentialist fiction.

ddude1116's avatar

Salinger hit the angst motif right on the head in pretty much every one of his works. And all of his characters had a presumably great childhood, but still hold a lot of resentment towards their parents and authority figures. So bildungsroman, definitely, with upper class angst, but also a shame of being so fortunate.

Blueroses's avatar

Early-Emo.

seriously.

_zen_'s avatar

Classic 20th century American novels.

BarnacleBill's avatar

Postmodern anti-social individualism.

filmfann's avatar

Teenage angst.

Either that, or CIA assassin training trigger.

weeveeship's avatar

Late modernism. Early postmodernism. Subjectivity plays a huge role in Catcher in the Rye, especially since the story is told from the POV of an unreliable narrator.

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