I doubt that anyone read this book as part of their English curriculum in the 1950s and 60s. It was unthinkable to read anything but classic literature then. And, teachers never assigned an "independent reading" project. I did not enjoy Salinger's book until decades after it was written.
Judy, Doesn't it make you wonder how many quality titles (especially those labeled "young adult" or Alex Award winners) face a similar fate today?
I, too, remember hating the assigned reading (As I Lay Dying and Ethan Frome, for example) while in high school -- which was after the 50's and 60's! :-) I enjoyed and related much more to texts I could choose myself (like Canticle for Leibowitz or Griffin's Black Like Me).
2 comments:
I doubt that anyone read this book as part of their English curriculum in the 1950s and 60s. It was unthinkable to read anything but classic literature then. And, teachers never assigned an "independent reading" project. I did not enjoy Salinger's book until decades after it was written.
Judy,
Doesn't it make you wonder how many quality titles (especially those labeled "young adult" or Alex Award winners) face a similar fate today?
I, too, remember hating the assigned reading (As I Lay Dying and Ethan Frome, for example) while in high school -- which was after the 50's and 60's! :-) I enjoyed and related much more to texts I could choose myself (like Canticle for Leibowitz or Griffin's Black Like Me).
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