Un’«atmosfera alla Salinger»: Heinrich Böll e ‘Il giovane Holden’

The paper attempts at investigating the influence which Salinger’s major novel The Catcher in the Rye has exerted on Böll’s work, especially on Ansichten eines Clowns. As a matter of fact, Böll translated Salinger’s work into German almost at the same time as he was writing his own book. Besides, he vastly contributed to the spread of new literary works of fictions from the United States in West Germany. By pointing out at similarities and differences between the two authors and novels, the paper will also try to offer new insights in a fascinating chapter of the American-German cultural transfer in the aftermath of WWII, a field which is still open to further enquiries.