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 |
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Page 2
... challenge their generic affiliations. This is also an issue of value: by what interpretive paradigm or methodology might some texts be valued over others? If value is always contingent or relational, then what particular efficacy does ...
... challenge their generic affiliations. This is also an issue of value: by what interpretive paradigm or methodology might some texts be valued over others? If value is always contingent or relational, then what particular efficacy does ...
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... challenges of adversity, and ends his or her story as a more mature 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 ...
... challenges of adversity, and ends his or her story as a more mature 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 ...
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... challenges. Lewis identifies the emergence of this dominant mythology especially in early nineteenth-century American writing: The American myth saw life and history as just beginning. It described the world as starting up again under ...
... challenges. Lewis identifies the emergence of this dominant mythology especially in early nineteenth-century American writing: The American myth saw life and history as just beginning. It described the world as starting up again under ...
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... challenges by evoking a lost historical utopia when the world was a better place: 'this ideal has appeared with increasing frequency in the service of a reactionary or false ideology, thereby helping to mask the real problems of an ...
... challenges by evoking a lost historical utopia when the world was a better place: 'this ideal has appeared with increasing frequency in the service of a reactionary or false ideology, thereby helping to mask the real problems of an ...
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... challenges that gave earlier novels in the genre their subversive value. As a result, 'instead of confronting adult hypocrisy with unfettered idealism, these adolescents are emotionally and morally obtuse' (Curnutt 2001: 94). The ...
... challenges that gave earlier novels in the genre their subversive value. As a result, 'instead of confronting adult hypocrisy with unfettered idealism, these adolescents are emotionally and morally obtuse' (Curnutt 2001: 94). The ...
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