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
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Page 3
... attempts to situate the individual novel in relation to a term from which it derives its meaning, but the precise interpretation of that term, like the conventions of a genre, is endlessly disputed and contested. This is especially true ...
... attempts to situate the individual novel in relation to a term from which it derives its meaning, but the precise interpretation of that term, like the conventions of a genre, is endlessly disputed and contested. This is especially true ...
Page 6
... attempt to define a point of origin might be accused of paying insufficient attention to the history that precedes them. Further, Leo Marx argued that the mythology of the American nation as a new beginning for mankind is a version of ...
... attempt to define a point of origin might be accused of paying insufficient attention to the history that precedes them. Further, Leo Marx argued that the mythology of the American nation as a new beginning for mankind is a version of ...
Page 7
... attempt to identify and to characterise in detail particularly American qualities that could be institutionalised and defended; each of them devotes a great deal of attention to interpretations of the meaning of innocence and to its ...
... attempt to identify and to characterise in detail particularly American qualities that could be institutionalised and defended; each of them devotes a great deal of attention to interpretations of the meaning of innocence and to its ...
Page 8
... attempts to define an origin, to produce a compelling story of the American empire's beginnings, to construct an account of the birth of the nation. This is part of America's foundation myth. In whatever terms this point is defined it ...
... attempts to define an origin, to produce a compelling story of the American empire's beginnings, to construct an account of the birth of the nation. This is part of America's foundation myth. In whatever terms this point is defined it ...
Page 9
... attempt to understand the historical circumstances of how the contemporary came to be the way that it is could be interpreted as an origin myth, because all such historical accounts are retrospective narratives of history that are open ...
... attempt to understand the historical circumstances of how the contemporary came to be the way that it is could be interpreted as an origin myth, because all such historical accounts are retrospective narratives of history that are open ...
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 |
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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