The Catcher in the Rye

有一種青春，叫做趁著下課一口氣讀完《麥田捕手》 1951年，美國作家J.D. SALINGER沙林傑發表長篇小說《The Catcher in the Rye》(麥田捕手)，此書很快地便成為當時青少年間流傳的讀物，並被翻譯成多國語言。直至現在，此書每年在世界各地的銷量仍然十分驚人。各大媒體和名人更將此書列入「百大書單」、及「此生必讀書單」。《麥田捕手》主角為一位紐約高中生，由於不適應體制的虛偽、遲遲無法融入環境，因而被學校退學。離開學校後，他在紐約城遊蕩了三天三夜、成為體制所標籤的「壞孩子」：逃學、抽菸、喝酒、髒話、性。此書因此在當時引起不小的爭議，被許多學校團體列為禁書。但由於書中主角的聲音，道出每個被禁錮在教室桌椅前的年輕學子心聲，將青春期無助無援、無人理解的孤獨和憤怒寫得透徹，因此即使成了禁書也難擋它的風行。漸漸地，主流社會開始看到《麥田捕手》帶給年輕人成長階段極其寶貴、卻常常被扼殺的自我/自由意識，因此此書慢慢成了許多學校的指定書單。 今年是《麥田捕手》作者沙林傑的100歲誕辰紀念日，我們以閱讀，紀念這位讓我們青春不再焦慮孤獨的作家！In honour of the centennial of the birth of J.D. Salinger in 1919, Penguin reissues all four of his books in beautiful commemorative hardback editions - with artwork and text based on the very first Salinger editions published in the 1950s and 1960s.The hero-narrator of The Catcher in the Rye is an ancient child of sixteen, a native New Yorker named Holden Caulfield...One of the greatest American novels of all time, The Catcher in the Rye is a classic coming-of-age story: an elegy to teenage alienation, capturing the deeply human need for connection and the bewildering sense of loss as we leave childhood behind.'A perfect novel ... it changed US culture forever' Independent'It was a very pure voice he had. There was no one like him' Martin Amis'He was the poet of youthful alienation before youth really knew what that was' Sunday Times'His work meant a lot to me when I was a young person and his writing still sings now' Dave Eggers