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 8
... circumstances that produced it, so that it is not recognised as a specific ideology that has been naturalised and universalised, or as Smith said of Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis, 'worked into the very fabric of our ...
... circumstances that produced it, so that it is not recognised as a specific ideology that has been naturalised and universalised, or as Smith said of Frederick Jackson Turner's frontier thesis, 'worked into the very fabric of our ...
Page 9
... 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 to dispute. This is an issue of the ...
... 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 to dispute. This is an issue of the ...
Page 18
... circumstances; his parents divorced ten years ago and his life is now dominated by his mother's drinking problem and his stepfather's hostility. Like Huck, Bone is an only child, and this is perhaps a significant contributory feature of ...
... circumstances; his parents divorced ten years ago and his life is now dominated by his mother's drinking problem and his stepfather's hostility. Like Huck, Bone is an only child, and this is perhaps a significant contributory feature of ...
Page 19
... circumstances that make him feel 'I was no good and a failure at life', and his alienation is expressed in his feeling that he is 'kind of irritated at the world' (4). Bone's family circumstances are not unique, or even remarkable ...
... circumstances that make him feel 'I was no good and a failure at life', and his alienation is expressed in his feeling that he is 'kind of irritated at the world' (4). Bone's family circumstances are not unique, or even remarkable ...
Page 21
... circumstances of his association with the biker gang, 'Adirondack Iron' in a fire in which he is assumed to have died. This chapter, entitled 'Presumed Dead', is also the culmination of the development of his moral conscience as regards ...
... circumstances of his association with the biker gang, 'Adirondack Iron' in a fire in which he is assumed to have died. This chapter, entitled 'Presumed Dead', is also the culmination of the development of his moral conscience as regards ...
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