The book has been translated widely. About one 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, connection, sex, and depression.
This book is thought to be behind several murders, such as that of actress Rebecca Schaeffer, JFK, John Lennon, and the failed assassination attempt on Ronald Reagan. The book has also been linked to a killing in Northern Australia in 2001.
There is a theory that The Catcher in the Rye was used as a trigger for sleeper assassins who were trained by the CIA’s MK-Ultra mind control program. I don't now if that is true, or why it would be. I found the book to be rather boring as it lacks a plot.
Other books have also led to crimes being committed, such as A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess. "The crimes could be scenes from A Clockwork Orange: a boy beats a homeless man to death for a few pennies; a 16-year old dressed like Alex and his droogs savagely beats and kicks a 15-year old; a 17-year old Dutch girl is gang raped by a group of Lancashire boys as they sing Singin’ In The Rain."~Devin Faraci
Asimov's Foundation series of books inspired Aum Shinrikyo's Japanese doomsday cult that conducted a deadly nerve gas attack on a Tokyo subway in 1995.
The Collector by John Fowles was found in the possession of a serial killer named Christopher Wilder. Another killer, Robert Berdella, who ended the lives of at least six men also said he was inspired by the novel.
Rage by Stephen King is linked to several school shootings. King asked that this book not be published anymore.
The Queen of the Damned by Anne Rice inspired Allan Menzies to murder his friend and drink his blood.
The Turner Diaries was found in the possession of Oklahoma Bomber Timothy McVeigh.
Several writers claimed that Charles Manson was a fan of Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
The Basketball Diaries by Jim Carroll (or at least the movie) influenced Barry Dale Loukaitis to start a shooting spree in his school.
The Unabomber, Ted Kaczynski read The Secret Agent by Joseph Conrad more than a dozen times.
Benjamin Spock's Baby and Child Care has been linked to Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).
A 1774 German novel, The Sorrows of Young Werther (Die Leiden des jungen Werther) by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe led to a string of suicides.
https://thebookshelf2015.blogspot.com/2021/07/help-mark-jones-stage-4-cancer-journey.html
No comments:
Post a Comment