Coming of Age in Contemporary American FictionEdinburgh University Press, 2007 M04 18 - 200 pages This book explores the ways in which a range of recent American novelists have handled the genre of the 'coming-of-age' novel, or the Bildungsroman. Novels of this genre characteristically dramatise the vicissitudes of growing up and the trials and tribulations of young adulthood, often presented through depictions of immediate family relationships and other social structures. This book considers a variety of different American cultures (in terms of race, class and gender) and a range of contemporary coming-of-age novels, so that aesthetic judgements about the fiction might be made in the context of the social history that fiction represents. A series of questions are asked:* Does the coming-of-age moment in these novels coincide with an interpretation of the 'fall' of America?* What kind of national commentary does it therefore facilitate?* Is the Bildungsroman a quintessentially American genre?* What can it usefully tell us about contemporary American culture? Although the focus is on the conte |
From inside the book
Results 1-5 of 60
Page 1
... adult social culture that shapes their development. This is a dynamic relationship between the individual and society, and it has some parallels in the study of literature. The individual novel is conditioned by those traditions and ...
... adult social culture that shapes their development. This is a dynamic relationship between the individual and society, and it has some parallels in the study of literature. The individual novel is conditioned by those traditions and ...
Page 3
... adult character as a result of their experience. Is the depiction of that initial immaturity in an autobiography fundamentally different from its depiction in a coming-of-age novel? Only in the claim to veracity that it makes. Paul de ...
... adult character as a result of their experience. Is the depiction of that initial immaturity in an autobiography fundamentally different from its depiction in a coming-of-age novel? Only in the claim to veracity that it makes. Paul de ...
Page 4
... adult status', and it is commonly seen in studies of the bildungsroman. This is a term which is widely used in anthropology, for example in Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa (1928), and which had acquired a currency in literary ...
... adult status', and it is commonly seen in studies of the bildungsroman. This is a term which is widely used in anthropology, for example in Margaret Mead's Coming of Age in Samoa (1928), and which had acquired a currency in literary ...
Page 5
... adult status varies between cultures, especially in relation to such cultural markers as alcohol, sexual consent, driving license, and marriage. Moreover, neither Huck nor Holden attains full adult status at the end of their respective ...
... adult status varies between cultures, especially in relation to such cultural markers as alcohol, sexual consent, driving license, and marriage. Moreover, neither Huck nor Holden attains full adult status at the end of their respective ...
Page 8
... adult world, and the experience of growing old tends to remain for them intractable. It is merely one aspect of that compulsive veneration of youth, that fear of all which is not simply strong and beautiful, so important in our total ...
... adult world, and the experience of growing old tends to remain for them intractable. It is merely one aspect of that compulsive veneration of youth, that fear of all which is not simply strong and beautiful, so important in our total ...
Contents
1 | |
15 | |
Growing up in the Sixties | 46 |
Chapter 3 Citation and Resuscitation | 72 |
Life Sentences | 98 |
Chapter 5 Lexicon of Love | 130 |
6 Memoirs and Memorials | 154 |
Conclusion | 181 |
Bibliography | 183 |
Index | 189 |
Other editions - View all
Common terms and phrases
adolescence adult aesthetic American argued attempt attention authority becomes begins believes Bone Bone’s called challenges chapter characterised characters child childhood circumstances closely coming of age coming-of-age contemporary critical crucial culture death defined depiction desire dramatises Edgar especially example experience expression father feel fiction final Fishboy further genre girls gives growing idea identity important innocence integral interest interpretation issue kind knowledge language linguistic Lisbon Lucille Lucille’s Maisie male means metafiction Mona Mona’s moral mother narrative narrator nature never novel origin parents particular partly past Phillip politics protagonist Prozac Nation Purple question reader reading recognise relationship respect response Ruth scene sense significant simply simultaneously social society speak specific story structure subjectivity suicide symbolic takes tell things understanding United voice women writing young