Week 1 Orientation: Genre, history, critical approache

                           

1.Young-adult fiction or young adult literature is fiction published for readers from 12 to 18^.However, authors and readers of "young teen novels" often define it as written for those aged 15 to the early 20s. The terms young adult novel, juvenile novel, teenage fiction, young adult book, etc., refer to the works in this category.

The subject matter and story lines of young adult literature are typically consistent with the age and experience of the main character, but this literature spans the spectrum of fiction genres. Stories that focus on the specific challenges of youth are sometimes referred to as problem novels or coming-of-age novels. According to 2013 statistics by the speculative fiction publisher Tor Books, women outnumbered men by 68% to 32% among submissions of this type of fiction to publishers, a gender distribution converse to that observed, for example in adult science fiction and most fantasy fiction.

J.D. Salinger 

                                                   

Jerome David "J.D." Salinger ( January 1, 1919 – January 27, 2010) was an American writer who is known for his widely-read novel, The Catcher in the Rye. Following his early success publishing short stories and The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger led a very private life for more than a half-century. He published his final original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980.

J.D.Salinger was born in New York City, on New Year's Day, 1919. His father, Sol Salinger, sold kosher cheese, and was from a Jewish family of Lithuanian descent, his father having been the rabbi for the Adath Jeshurun congregation in Louisville, Kentucky.he began writing short stories while in secondary school. Several were published in Story magazine. in the early 1940s before he began serving in World War II. In 1948, his critically acclaimed story "A Perfect Day for Bananafish" appeared in The New Yorker magazine, which became home to much of his later work.

In 1951, his novel The Catcher in the Rye was an immediate popular success. His depiction of adolescent alienation and loss of innocence in the protagonist Holden Caulfield was influential, especially among adolescent readers. The novel remains widely read and controversial, selling around 250,000 copies a year.Salinger died of natural causes on January 27, 2010, at his home in Cornish, New Hampshire. In November 2013, 

The Catcher in the Rye 

                                                 

 a 1951 novel by J. D. Salinger. A controversial novel originally published for adults, it has since become popular with adolescent readers for its themes of teenage angst and alienation. It has been translated into almost all of the world's major languages. Around 1 million copies are sold each year with total sales of more than 65 million books.The novel's protagonist Holden Caulfield has become an icon for teenage rebellion.The novel also deals with complex issues of innocence, identity, belonging, loss, and connection.

The main character Holden Caulfield, a teenager in his short story "Slight Rebellion off Madison", and The Catcher in the Rye was published on July 16, 1951, by Little, Brown and Company.The novel's plot is simple, detailing 16-year-old Holden's experiences in New York City following his expulsion and departure from an elite college preparatory school.

Not only was he expelled from his current school, he had also been expelled from three previous schools.The book is more notable for the persona and testimonial voice of its first-person narrator, Holden. He serves as an insightful but unreliable narrator who expounds on the importance of loyalty, the "phoniness" of adulthood, and his own duplicity.In a 1953 interview with a high school newspaper, Salinger admitted that the novel was "sort of" autobiographical, explaining, "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book ... t was a great relief telling people about it.

Allie' s baseball mitt(chapter 5)

In the novel, which really relates the story about baseball is Allie's baseball mitt, who was also Holden Caufield's brother because he is left- handed, so he got left-handed fielder's mitt. when he is on the baseball game, his mitt was filled with poems in green ink, so he can read it on the field when nobody was up at bat.Sadly, he got leukemia and died early in Maine on July 18, 1946. 

"The mark of the immature man is that he wants to die nobly for a cause, while the mark of the mature man is that he wants to live humbly for one." Quote by Wilhelm Stekel

 It sounds here like Mr. Antolini might be worried that Holden’s going to commit suicide. But what’s Holden’s cause? He wants to be the catcher in the rye—to protect the innocence of youth. If Holden did manage to turn himself away from the rest of the adult world, as a kind of recluse, maybe he would “die nobly.”

Wilhelm Stekel
                    
Wilhelm Stekel ( March 18, 1868 – June 25, 1940) was an Austrian doctor and psychologist, who became one of Sigmund Freud's earliest followers, and was once described as "Freud's most distinguished pupil. According to Ernest Jones, "Stekel may be accorded the honour, together with Freud, of having founded the first psycho-analytic society"; while he also described him as "a naturally gifted psychologist with an unusual flair for detecting repressed material." He later had a falling-out with Freud, who announced in November 1912 that "Stekel is going his own way". His works are translated and published in many languages.







                                                       
Robert Burns (25 January 1759 – 21 July 1796), also known as Rabbie Burns, the Bard of Ayrshire, Ploughman Poet and various other names and epithets,was a Scottish poet and lyricist. He is widely regarded as the national poet of Scotland and is celebrated worldwide. He is the best known of the poets who have written in the Scots language, although much of his writing is also in English and a light Scots dialect, accessible to an audience beyond Scotland. He also wrote in standard English, and in these writings his political or civil commentary is often at its bluntest.

He is regarded as a pioneer of the Romantic movement, and after his death he became a great source of inspiration to the founders of both liberalism and socialism, and a cultural icon in Scotland and among the Scottish diaspora around the world. Celebration of his life and work became almost a national charismatic cult during the 19th and 20th centuries, and his influence has long been strong on Scottish literature. In 2009 he was chosen as the greatest Scot by the Scottish public in a vote run by Scottish television channel STV.

As well as making original compositions, Burns also collected folk songs from across Scotland, often revising or adapting them. His poem (and song) "Auld Lang Syne" is often sung at Hogmanay (the last day of the year), and "Scots Wha Hae" served for a long time as an unofficial national anthem of the country. Other poems and songs of Burns that remain well known across the world today include "A Red, Red Rose", "A Man's a Man for A' That", "To a Louse", "To a Mouse", "The Battle of Sherramuir", "Tam o' Shanter" and "Ae Fond Kiss".

"Comin' Thro' the Rye" is a poem written in 1782 by Robert Burns (1759–96). It is well known as a traditional children's song, with the words put to the melody of the Scottish Minstrel Common' Frae The Town. This is a variant of the tune to which Auld Lang Syne is usually sung—the melodic shape is almost identical, the difference lying in the tempo and rhythm.

The protagonist, "Jenny", is not further identified, but there has been reference to a "Jenny from Dalry" and a longstanding legend in the town of Dalry, North Ayrshire, holds that "comin thro' the rye" describes crossing a ford through the Rye Water at Drakemyre to the north of the town, downstream from Ryefield House and not far from the confluence of the Rye with the River Garnock. When this story appeared in the Glasgow Herald in 1867, it was soon disputed with the assertion that everyone understood the rye to be a field of rye, wet with dew.An alternative suggestion is that "the rye" was a long narrow cobblestone paved lane, prone to puddles of water.

The title of the novel The Catcher in the Rye (1951) by J. D. Salinger comes from the poem's name. Holden Caulfield, the protagonist, misinterprets a part of this poem to mean "if a body catch a body" rather than "if a body meet a body." He keeps picturing children playing in a field of rye near the edge of a cliff, and him catching them when they start to fall off.

2. "Auld Lang Syne" 
Auld Lang Syneis traditionally sung at the conclusion of New Year gatherings in Scotland and around the world, especially in English-speaking countries. It is a Scots poem written by Robert Burns in 1788 and set to the tune of a traditional folk song .Its traditional use being to bid farewell to the old year at the stroke of midnight. By extension, it is also sung at funerals, graduations and as a farewell or ending to other occasions. The international Scouting movement, in many countries, uses it to close jamborees and other functions.



At Hogmanay in Scotland, it is common practice that everyone joins hands with the person next to them to form a great circle around the dance floor. At the beginning of the last verse, everyone crosses their arms across their breast, so that the right hand reaches out to the neighbour on the left and vice versa. When the tune ends, everyone rushes to the middle, while still holding hands. When the circle is re-established, everyone turns under the arms to end up facing outwards with hands still joined.

Haggis a generaly Scottish dish, is a savoury pudding containing sheep's pluck (heart, liver and lungs); minced with onion, oatmeal, suet, spices, and salt, mixed with stock, traditionally encased in the animal's stomach though now often in an artificial casing instead. According to the 2001 English edition of the Larousse Gastronomique: "Although its description is not immediately appealing, haggis has an excellent nutty texture and delicious savoury flavour".

                                           

Although the name "hagws" or "hagese" was first used in England c. 1430, the dish came to be considered traditionally Scottish, even the national dish, as a result of Scots poet Robert Burns' poem Address to a Haggis of 1787. Haggis is traditionally served with "neeps and tatties", boiled and mashed separately, and a dram (a glass of Scotch whisky), especially as the main course of a Burns supper.


Movie
                                               
Finding Forrester is a 2000 American drama film written by Mike Rich and directed by Gus Van Sant. An African-American teenager, Jamal Wallace (Rob Brown), is invited to attend a prestigious private high school. By chance, Jamal befriends a reclusive writer, William Forrester (Sean Connery), through whom he refines his talent for writing and comes to terms with his identity. Anna Paquin, F. Murray Abraham, Michael Pitt, Glenn Fitzgerald, April Grace and Busta Rhymes star in supporting roles.