Podcast Extra: The Booking Club with Jack Aldane – The Catcher in the Rye, 75 years on

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The Booking Club is a podcast where leading authors and commentators discuss their latest books and breakthroughs at their favourite places to eat and drink.

Guest authors on the series so far have included David Baddiel, Geoff Norcott, Michael Rosen, Rory Sutherland, Tom Holland, Helen Lewis, Will Self, Louise Perry, and James Marriott.

Published in book form in 1951, JD Salinger’s classic coming-of-age novel, while intended for adults, has long been popular with teenagers, with its themes of angst and alienation, of teenage rebellion and being an outsider.

While the protagonist of the story endured throughout the latter half of the twentieth century with ease, what makes Holden Caulfield a compelling character now? Is the social nature of adolescence changing, and will this prevent the novel from enduring throughout the present century?

For many, the significance of the book is hard to pry away from the story of Mark David Chapman, who was carrying a copy of the book when he killed John Lennon in December 1980. Is it at the very least a novel firmly rooted in male anger and alienation, or do we miss its true power by looking at it this way?