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The Catcher in the Rye The Catcher in the Rye question


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plot tracking of the nine circles of hell
Kate Mackay Kate Aug 19, 2013 11:12AM
hi folks,
i'm curious about the literary connection between the catcher in the rye and dante's inferno. i've been told that holden's story roughly tracks dante's descent into hell, but can't find anything to read further on this. does anyone have any ideas/sources/explanations that they could share?
thanks!
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It's been ages since I read it, but I've looked into some resources at hand and none of them mention Dante's Inferno.
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In as much as I am currently reading The Divine Comedy, and have recently finished with JDS Catcher, I can see no correlations at all to the two literary works. I would be interested in reading anything relating to the subject.
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Hi Kate, I confess its been a while since I've read 'Catcher' but I have never heard this comparison!

I hate to seem glib, but wouldn't your first port of call be reading both and making your own conclusions?
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can't say i ever noticed or heard of this idea, but i'd be interested to see someone break it down in more detail
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Kate wrote: "hi folks,
i'm curious about the literary connection between the catcher in the rye and dante's inferno. "

I'd say it's a pretty far stretch; Salinger didn't write allegory. Although readers can and will interpret wherever their minds take them.
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17841301
Kate Mackay thanks Monty J, and Bloodorange. Maybe it's not true that there's a connection after all. I'll keep hunting, though. ...more
Aug 20, 2013 12:26PM
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Bloodorange I thought a little more about that, and can seem some distant parallels. Holden is definitely on a quest; the quest takes him far from we might call h ...more
Aug 24, 2013 09:58AM

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