It is 50 years since the publication of The Catcher in the Rye, written by the reclusive J D Salinger. The novel single-handedly invented teenage angst, long before James Dean, Buddy Holly and the Rolling Stones hit the scene. Since then, it has become a GCSE set text classic, beloved of trendy English teachers.

Its polemic on “phoneyness” once seemed so powerful that it was cited as “inspiration” for the murder of John Lennon. But this once-great novel’s time has come - as I realised when discussing it with a group of 16-year-olds, the same age as the novel’s hero, Holden Caulfield.

First published in 1951, it has continually been banned by schools, libraries and bookshops for profanity and its rejection of all-American values. More recently, calls for its censure have centred on alleged racism and the smug arrogance of the affluent America that it portrays.

The fact is, the novel that was supposed to have invented teenagers has become a paper tiger. Take its opening lines, which seemed so relevant and scathing in the middle of the last century, with its reference to “all that David Copperfield kind of crap”. Today’s teenagers have just about heard of David Copperfield, but think he is a magician.

The Dickens reference is not the only aspect of the book that is suffering from the passage of time. So too is its style. It all seemed so original at the time, but today even the Spice Girls have co-opted Holden’s “what I really, really want” routine.

As for all those once-rebellious “chrissakes” and “goddams”, Holden’s rich-kid hang-ups and preppy world now seem as dead as the dodo.

In chapter 15, he discusses The Return of the Native and Romeo and Juliet with two nuns. But as one GCSE student put it: “I’ve never heard of Eustacia Vye - what’s so shocking about her?” In chapter 18, Holden says he is “crazy about The Great Gatsby”. His crowning ambition is to be “the catcher in the rye” - a character inspired by a Burns poem, written in dated Scottish dialect. But he might just as well be talking Martian to today’s young people.

It is time this book was taken off its pedestal and off the syllabuses. Not because it might seem “racist”, but because it is a sad example of a toothless tiger that should long ago have been put to rest. Fifty years after publication, The Catcher in the Rye can be judged for what it really, really is: the story of a goddam brat who talks too much and does too little. It has committed the worst crime for any would-be rebel - it has become cliched and boring.

Andrew Cunningham teaches English at Cranleigh School, Cranleigh, Surrey