essays
Happy Birthday, Holden Caulfield!

If you enjoy reading Electric Literature, join our mailing list! We’ll send you the best of EL each week, and you’ll be the first to know about upcoming submissions periods and virtual events.
The Catcher in the Rye was first published on July 16, 1951. According to my dubious calculations, that’s over 60 years (plus a couple remainders) of lambasting the phonies in the world. And although you’ve likely changed since you first read it in high school English — maybe you’re a little more weathered, maybe you’ve got angsty teenagers of your own — Catcher hasn’t just endured but evolved with you. So here’s a quick collection of Catcher in the Rye covers from around the world (and from the imagination of artists):
This slideshow requires JavaScript.
***
— Benjamin Samuel is the co-editor of Electric Literature. If he isn’t at the carousel, you can find him on Twitter.
